Firesuite
by VeltPunch
Summary: Shindou Hikaru's life went, soccer, girls, soccer, video games, soccer. After his fateful game with Touya, elusive korean players and memories that never happened to him begin to overwhelm him-and amidst it all, a newfound passion for go is awakened
1. two stones two rivals

_Alright..here it goes. My latest story. Greatly inspired by this story I read a while ago called Touya Hikaru. I love stories where Hikaru has a life other than Go. It gives him a more...well rounded character I suppose. I tried it in my other story, but it didn't come out the way I wanted. _

_Be kind to my english! it's been improving steadily over the years though

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Akari sighed again as she brushed auburn colored hair out of her face. The sun was beginning to set even though it was only three o'clock, a sure sign of the significant time lapse as the days became shorter and shorter. The sky was dyed a deep red, and painted long shadows on the sidewalk that matched perfectly to where her and Hikaru were standing. She had to admire the way the edges of his hair glowed gold in the retrograde light of the sun, diffused in sunbeams and saffron colored light.

Hikaru was so busy lately, not only had he suddenly eccentrically taken up Go as some sort of hobby, he was also struggling to improve his grades so that his parents would buy him that laptop he wanted (and also, the fact that doing so would also increase his allowance was probably some sort of minimal incentive) while being moved up to the varsity soccer, and balancing time with her and—grudgingly—Misaki-chan was becoming harder and harder.

She tried to understand, but it still hurt to know how little the time they had was.

"So you're hanging out with Hidaka-chan and Okamura-kun?" Akari tried to hide her frown. It wasn't that she didn't like Hidaka Misaki, other than the fact that she took up more than half of Hikaru's free time, but Okamura…that boy was such a scoundrel, and not to mention ridiculously stupid.

Hikaru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I was supposed to just go to Misaki-chan's house. But Okamura always tags along." He frowned suddenly. "Its really annoying."

Akari felt her mood increase. At least they felt slightly the same. "Well…what are you doing Friday?"

"Friday…." Hikaru trailed off.

That was two days away.

Maybe a month or two ago, he would have hung out with some of his new soccer friends like Ryou and Taro, probably gotten into trouble, and probably been grounded. But ever since the day he had walked into that Go salon…

Hikaru's grandfather wasn't exactly known for his patience, but he had kindly taught his delinquent grandson once he realized the vast Go potential the two-toned boy had. Not only was Hikaru a prodigy, he was a near genius. Since then, he had taken to buying the boy—who, with a spared annoyed look, had received them without complaint—Shuusaku's kifu, seeing as though Hikaru sapped it up like water to a tree. It was remarkable, how such a trouble making scoundrel could be so renowned at such a flawless, polite game. Not many would think to look for a game of go with a boy with bleached blonde hair, a juvenile record, and a .97 grade point average.

And then, Hikaru wandered into the Meijin's go salon, and everything changed.

There he met Touya Akira, and witnessed his innate determination and uncanny ability, and was floored at the possibility of ever being so serious about something. Touya was…unlike anything he'd ever met before.

Sure, Akari wanted to be a veterinarian. Kaga wanted to work on cars, and TsuiTsui wanted a computer business. Everyone else he hung out with had no aspirations other then cheating at the arcade to get free rounds of Super Mario. A while ago, he'd been one of them.

He had a lot to owe to Touya, Hikaru mused.

"Hikaru?" Akari echoed, as she swung her face so that it was in his line of sight. Her eyes were glowing and pretty, and her smile was gummy and pink.

"S-Sorry." He grinned. "Yeah, I have that game at Kaio, remember?" He pointed out teasingly, watching as she flushed in embarrassment at having forgotten his important game.

"Oh I forgot! Are you nervous?"

"Not really." When they scrimmaged, Hikaru had scored nearly seven points, had two hattricks which had inevitably led to his drafting onto the varsity soccer team, not to mention his sick banana kick. Kaio was pathetic at anything that wasn't academically inclined. Hence, their pathetic football team and equally pathetic basketball and baseball teams.

"Is Hidaka-chan going to be there?" Akari asked tactfully, trying to sound interested but was watching Hikaru's reaction from the corner of her eye.

Hikaru shrugged. "I dunno, she might be at the go club. But if she isn't, then I'll catch up to her before the game."

Akari tried her best not to pout.

How unfair. Hidaka Misaki—Hikaru's first girlfriend. Who also happened to be a beautiful blonde haired beauty attending Kaio as a _third year _(Honestly, what first year got a third year girlfriend who went to a prestigious school like Kaio?!) that Hikaru apparently met through Go. Not only was she smart a beautiful, with her long sparkly sunshine colored hair that made Akari desperately wonder what shampoo she used, and curvaceous—boobs, what an unfair advantage—as well as loud and confident she also had a backbone. Something which Akari lacked even more so than a chest. How was she supposed to compete with that?

"You should come too!" Hikaru began loudly, startling her with his bright smile.

Her heart swooned.

"And bring Kaga and TsuiTsui!"

And dropped just as quickly.

"Sure." She muttered, a bit angrily. Hikaru didn't seem to notice. She slammed her front door before Hikaru could say anything else, leaving the blonde to watch with some amount of confusion. But, no one ever said Hikaru was known for his subtleties, nor his ability to reach such.

Hanging out with Hidaka was entertaining and fun. Hanging out with her and Okamura was different. She looked beautiful, standing on the corner of the street that led to the park, wearing a winter coat and had her light sunshine hair down and flowing past her shoulders. She was going to cut it, but Hikaru had luckily convinced her otherwise. The boy cut just wouldn't look good on her. While she was smiling prettily and Okamura, the little shrimp, was eying her up from behind her, he couldn't really find her anything more than pleasant.

He frowned at the thought.

How many boys his age would kill for a chance to date someone like this?

And, the even more important question;

Why wasn't he one of them?

"So how's school?" He asked.

"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands. "I've got great grades this year, and the Go clubs going great."

"Not really." Okamura frowned, kicking a pebble as they walked.

But the two of them paid him no mind.

"Is it?" Hikaru mused, not really paying attention.

"Too bad you got kicked out from the tournament last time." She sighed. "You were so good! How'd you learn to play like that? You wiped the floor with out first board!"

Hikaru shrugged noncommittally. "Oh, just here and there." He dug his hands into his pockets, feeling a little uncomfortable with the subject. Being good at Go clashed with his teen angst bad-ass image. Luckily, he had spotted a vending machine up ahead. "Would you like a hot chocolate?"

Misaki immediately brightened. "Yes please!"

He dug some change out of his pocket, ever since he had raised his social studies grade, his parents had raised his allowance—SCORE!!—and he had more than enough to spare.

He grabbed the hot can as it fell, tossing it to the girl.

"Thanks Hikaru-kun!" She swooned, and then continued to do so as he sent her his trademark smile. He looked so cute, with his Haze Football hoodie and jeans with the rips at the knees, and beat up kicks.

Okamura only grunted.

The day ended with Misaki having to say goodbye, Okamura tagging along with her like an irksome fly.

--

"Maybe you shouldn't have yelled at her." TsuiTsui began thoughtfully, as he slipped on his shoes.

Hikaru waved it off. "Nah, she's used to that. She'll be back in a day or two."

He wasn't too interested in Akari at the moment. As he flipped open his umbrella, he mulled over today's rain. The game would be starting in an hour, and it hadn't stopped raining. Of course, there wasn't any lightning so the game would go on, but Hikaru didn't fancy himself having to get all muddy and having to get home all gross and spend an hour or two in the shower rubbing the dirt from behind his ears. And also, he had his algebra homework to do, and his biology, and his world history! How was he supposed to be able to balance his grades, his team, the go club, and his girlfriend all at the same time?!

He sighed aloud to himself. "How did I get into this mess?"

Imminently, it was because

a) he wanted a computer to play go online (that way he didn't have to go into an internet café and risk being spotted by one of his soccer friends)

b) his parents were threatening military school if he got another blemish on his record

c) money, money, and money

and d) of course, girls. Girls and popularity.

He wondered if Touya cared about anything on his list. First of all, Touya had no qualms about playing Go in public already making it certainly clear that he was going to be a professional when he grew up (something about that sentence made his heart clench in…a very indescribable feeling) and he doubted someone like Touya would have a juvenile record. And if he was thinking of going to Kaio, money certainly wasn't an issue.

And girls and popularity…well, he doubted Touya cared much for trivial things like that.

Hikaru paused.

Trivial?

A while ago, those key points had defined his life. Had he really been that shallow?

He checked his watch, and near spit out the water he was drinking.

"Its four thirty all ready?!" And sprinted in the direction of Kaio.

"Itou-kun and Kojima-kun aren't here." The girl said. "They snuck off with that first year Okamura."

"Snuck off?"

Itou, Kojima, and Okamura had successfully weaved Touya into their plot as he walked into the abandoned storage room.

"Yun-sensei wanted us to clean it up to be used as a waiting room for the girl's team." Kojima had said.

Which was obviously bullshit, judging from the way Kojima had offhandedly suggested a game. Maybe it was his pride, or maybe it was his goal to see Shindou again at the tournament that made him accept the game, but either way, he wouldn't back down now.

"I don't mind you bragging," He began, perhaps a bit arrogantly. "But please, do it after you win."

Kojima's eyes flashed, as he played another move.

Touya hummed in thought. While Kojima was alright and certainly up to pace for a second year, he wasn't nearly as good as the strong people Touya was used to playing. Like Ogata-sensei, his father, and even…Shindou. He narrowed his eyes in determination as he thought of the blonde. The next time he saw him, he would be prepared for that game. Shindou was just…incredible.

Where had he learned such Go?

"16-7" He called back to the boy at the Go board, pulling another book out.

This one read, _"Important games of Honninbou Shuusaku" _and he immediately split the spine and began to read.

Outside of the room, Okamura and Itou were snickering as they imagined what was going on inside. Sure, Touya was good, but who could be able to play blind go while cleaning up that dusty room? Kojima would win for sure. Itou chuckled as he peered behind the edge. Kojima was smart, and not half bad of a player. Unlike Okamura, who was more stupid than he was mean. The first year was only tagging along because he wanted to be cool and hang out with second years.

"Touya should be suffering by now." Itou smirked, as he leaned on his knees.

"Blind go will be tough for even him!" Okamura laughed. "So this is what he meant by tying up his arms and legs!" He said in hindsight, remembering Kojima's words when they had walked home the day they saw Touya being picked up by that cute older woman.

As usual, the aspect of a teenage boy's jealousy did not stemming from go ability, but on one's ability to pick up chicks.

Typical.

Itou stood up suddenly, pushing up his glasses. "Now it's my turn."

Okamura blinked. "Isn't it a bit early?"

Itou's grin widened. "I want to see Touya struggling too."

Meanwhile, farther on the campus, one Shindou Hikaru was tugging on his warm up pants in the Kaio locker room.

Next to him, Taro had his headphones in as he leaned over his legs to stretch, counting under his breath. Behind him, Ryou was smoothing back his unruly brown hair and making faces in the mirror, and around them, the team had begun to warm up as they got ready for the game. Some looked a bit nervous, and Tachibana was still giving him the evil eye for when he had showed him up at try outs with a quick breakaway and a one on one with the goalie which ended up with him face down in the mud and one goal higher than the other forward. Originally, Hikaru had tried out to be a forward, but something told him that the coach was going to put him in as a midfielder.

He groaned, looking down at his legs.

They'd be so sore in the morning…

"So what do you think?" Ryou grinned. "Think I could get any girls like this?"

Taro snorted.

Hikaru shook his head. "Nah. Its not like anyone's gonna care. In a couple minutes we'll be soaked in mud."

"What?! But I just got these shoes…." Taro bemoaned, looking at his new puma's with a newfound regret.

Hikaru finished tying up his cleats, when he noticed a shadow above him.

Tachibana stood, at his towering height of nearly 6' 3. Maybe not that tall considering American basketball players, but certainly for a Japanese third year.

"Listen," He said, shaking out his dyed hair. "I know we don't like each other. But we've got a good team this year. I want to see us do well, and you'll help us get there."

Hikaru nodded slowly, wondering where this was going.

"So let's just call it a truce. We help each other out, and whatever shit we got off field we don't let it get to us, yeah?" He pulled his hand out.

Hikaru grinned unabashedly. "Yeah."

He shook it confidently.

Then his eyes spied the clock.

"Ah?! It's almost thirty minutes till the game!" He gaped.

Ryou skewered him with a look. "Weren't you just saying how we'd be playing in a couple minutes?"

"Yeah," He rubbed a hand through his hair, scooting the older boy out of the mirror and pushing his bangs side to side. "But I was exaggerating. I didn't think it was really that close to game time."

Ryou watched him, a bit bemused. "Going to visit a lady friend?"

When Hikaru said nothing to the retort, Taro looked up. "You _are?!"_

Hikaru flushed in embarrassment. "What if I am?" He shot back with a blush, before jogging out of the locker room before his soccer buddies could take anymore blows at him.

"First year's got a _girlfriend_!!" Taro and Ryou were singing as he hurried out, and he could visibly imagine them making a line by clasping each others shoulders and swaying back and forth.

He kept the light jog through the halls of Kaio, unsure exactly of where he was heading. Kaio was so clean and perfect compared to Haze, with pristine floors and pressed uniforms. The corridors were fairly empty, most people probably already left or were out in the field waiting for the first game of the season. Kaio, being as rich as they were, had the spectator area tented with plastic sheets to keep people dry as they watched. Haze, on the other hand, barely even had bleachers.

By the time Hikaru had even found where the Go club was practicing, he had to find his way through two levels and asked a couple teachers.

"Ah, excuse me." He began politely, to a man who looked slightly familiar.

The teacher turned around quickly, looking as if he was going to retort something rather rude when he caught the insignia on his warm up jacket, but then he noticed his face. His eyes widened.

"Shindou…Hikaru Shindou, am I right?"

Hikaru blinked, a bit suspiciously. How did the guy know his name? "Yeah…?"

"You played in the last tournament?"

Hikaru had the decency to look a bit ashamed. "Ah, that was me. I'm really sorry about that—

"No, no!" The Go instructor cut him off quickly. "That was an excellent game! No need to apologize."

Hikaru didn't know what to say, so he opted to bring his gaze down to the floor.

"Will you be participating this year," And with a bit of a chuckle, he added. "Legally, this time?"

Hikaru flushed, before scratching the back of his head. "I'm not so sure. I have some really tough classes, and football…"

He imagined TsuiTsui's face if he ever told him that, and his stomach went cold. And then, he thought of what Touya would say, and missing a chance to play the boy again. And his resole returned tenfold.

"Now if you don't mind me asking," The man began a bit awkwardly. "What might a student of Haze be doing wandering the halls of Kaio at this hour?"

"I'm here for the game." Hikaru started, before the man could accuse him of some sort of delinquency. But when all that was returned was a blank stare, Hikaru figured he needed to elaborate. "The football game." He added.

The teacher blinked then, as if in understanding. "I see, I see. You play?" He inquired seeming only polite. But Hikaru felt the man felt betrayed that he wasn't playing go.

"Err—yes!" He grinned. "I'm a forward. And I was wondering, have you seen Hidaka-san?"

"Hidaka-san?" The man echoed. "Why yes…I sent her to the storage a couple minutes ago. Just down the hall and to the left."

"Really?" Hikaru brightened, before going in that direction. "Thank you!" He called, over his shoulder, as he turned the corner.

Yun-sensei sighed as the boy was out of earshot. "Now why would a boy with such exceptional talent in Go be playing football?" But he was obviously very good, judging from his varsity warm ups.

Hikaru slowed to a walk as he made it to the storage closet, already hearing voices. One, seemed to be that of a laid back boy who had been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to (Hikaru knew the feeling, almost a bit too well) and another he was fairly sure was Okamura. He had almost forgotten the little tag along even played Go, he was so abysmal at it. And the last he was certain was Misaki. What she was doing yelling at two boys in a storage closet, Hikaru wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Idiots!" Hidaka was yelling, her voice a bit more shrill than usual.

"A little blind go," She began again, sounding more angrier by the minute. Hikaru wasn't so sure if he wanted to go in there anymore…Misaki was scary when she was mad. "And what do you mean, 'busy'?! You guys should be helping out!"

Hikaru sucked in his breath, and opened the door.

"Touya!!!"

"Touya?"

The two said in unison.

The room silenced.

Misaki turned around with a fluff of her straight blond hair, eyes widening as she saw her boyfriend, looking absolutely adorable in his varsity warm up, hair askew and cleats already on, who by no means should be there right now. But then she backtracked, and remembered the game Kaio was having with Haze that day, and it made a bit more sense.

Meanwhile on the other side of the spectrum, Touya had near dropped his book and completely forgotten everything about the game and subsequent bullying when Hikaru stepped into the room. What the two-toned boy was doing here, at Kaio, was beyond him.

"Hikaru-kun," Hidaka began. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just going to say hello," Hikaru began awkwardly, watching as everyone in the room stared at him. "Before the game… but I guess you're a little busy."

"Game?" Okamura piped up. "What game?"

Kajima sent him a skewering look. "The football game, idiot."

"Yeah, idiot." Itou mimicked.

"Shut up, all of you!" Misaki slammed her fist down, causing the Go stones to clutter about and all three of them to jump bit.

"I'll clean this up," She began again, this time directed towards Touya. "So hurry up and beat them."

"Hidaka-senpai…" Touya began, sparing a look to Hikaru, who still stood unsure at the door way. "I accepted this match. I will continue like this."

Hikaru slowly backed out of the room.

Okamura wanted to do the same.

Hidaka looked like she was going to make a snide remark about his courageous bravery, but opted against it. "I know bullying when I see it." She rolled her eyes. "And now that I've seen it, I can't continue to let it happen."

"But I was—

"Stupid idiot, geez!" Hidaka grounded out. "If only you weren't here, they wouldn't have done this. And you accepted this, you were the one who encouraged it."

'

"If only you weren't here!"

She immediately regretted saying those words, once she saw the look of shock and hurt on the young boys face. Regardless of his go prowess, he was still a first year. And all fist years were always a little bit nervous and struggling to prove themselves to the upperclassmen, and perhaps her words had been tongue tied once they had come out. But she hadn't meant to make the poor boy feel bad, not when he was already being bullied and excluded from most of the club. Even if he was a bit thick-skinned—which he seemed to be.

She closed her eyes and took a breath. "But what I want to say is, since you _are _a Kaio student, proudly be a member of the go club."

"But don't accept matches like this." She went on to say. "Play normally and kick their asses."

In the background, Itou guffawed and Hikaru chuckled form behind the door.

"…" Touya blinked.

"Hidaka-senpai," He trailed off. "Thank you very much."

He calmly walked over to where the two boys were sitting. "Oh Hidaka-senpai," He called to the girl who was now cleaning up. "This shouldn't take more than five minutes so I'll be free for a lesson after you're done cleaning."

With the same collected movements, he impassively picked up one of the go ke and sat himself down, not noting how Itou and Okamaru's faces lost their pallor.

"Sorry for the delay."

Okamura gave a small shriek.

"Hikaru-kun," Hidaka snapped, and the boy quickly opened the door sheepishly. "Be good and help me clean up."

Successfully cowed by her reigning act of female empowerment that reared its ugly head in his direction, he did nothing against this. "Of course…" He scuffled over and took the many books she had with a grunt.

"Oh, suck it up." She ordered, but it seemed a bit more teasing now.

"I have a game in ten minutes!" He squawked.

Okamura, who had already been defeated in the first few hands Touya had played once he sat down, dropped his head onto the table with a sigh.

"Shindou," Akira began as he clicked down one of his stones, unable to hold his silence any longer when the object of his intense studying was standing not even a foot away from him, "Are you joining Haze's go club?"

The following reactions being;

"Shindou plays go?'

"Does Haze even have a go club?"

From Okamura and Itou respectively.

Hikaru rubbed his head. "Err…yeah I am."

Misaki sent him a look. "Are you sure?" She asked, cautiously placing another load onto the boys hands. "I mean, don't you have to keep your grades up—

"Don't remind me." Hikaru groaned.

"—and have football practice?" Hidaka finished.

"That's true…"

"I didn't know you played go!" Okamura glanced up, looking at Shindou strangely. "Honestly…_you_?"

"Hey!" Hikaru shot back hotly. "I could say the same for you, squirt!"

"I didn't' mean it offensively!" Okamura hedged. "But I mean, I guess I just didn't imagine you to be. You don't do a kick worthy of Beckham and then turn around and play Go, I guess."

Which was a rather crude and strange way of putting it, but Hikaru didn't know what to say.

"Hikaru plays go!" Okamura near laughed to himself. "Never imagined the day."

Hikaru sent him a tempestuous look.

Touya studied the interaction carefully as he set down a few more stones. He had always wondered why Hikaru never came back to the Salon, and he supposed he found his reason. Hikaru's crass reaction to the idea of being a professional Go player also seemed a bit more plausible when he realized that Hikaru himself thought playing Go just wasn't something you told the general adolescent public. Perhaps…Hikaru had never heard of being so intense about something like this before?

"What's so wrong with playing Go?" Hikaru retorted, as he shoved one of the books with a bit more strength than required. "It shouldn't matter to you, anyway."

"You're not quitting the football team though, are you?" The Kaio first year asked in a panicky tone. He obviously had some sort of hero worship for Haze's rising soccer star.

"Of course not!" Hikaru spat vehemently.

Touya tried not to show his crestfallen face. It looked like Hikaru wasn't going to be playing after all. And he didn't come to the salon either…he wanted to groan in frustration. Finally, he had found someone who he could consider his equal—no, not an equal at all, but a goal—and possibly even a rival, but he was too engrossed in other things to even have the time to play go!

"But I think I can manage both of them at the same time!" Shindou smiled then, happily. "Anyway, I better get going."

He placed the books down with a thump. "Game time in five minutes!" He called exuberantly, giving Misaki a quick hug (when the girl was obviously wanting more) and headed out the door.

However, he paused in the threshold.

"Touya," He called suddenly, and the dark haired boy looked up from where he had finished successfully destroying Itou's hope for survival once again.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"In June," Hikaru began, already unzipping his warm up jacket to show the jersey underneath. "We'll play our match then."

And even though Hikaru didn't show it in front of many people, there was a fire inside him, which could only be doused by the challenge of Go.

Touya, who's fire burned equally bright, nodded. "In June it is." He nodded, stone-faced.

Hikaru rushed out the door, cleats tapping on the immaculate floors as he sprinted to the field.

In June, they would have their match. And in June, everything would change.

* * *

_hmm..one shot or full story? I wonder..._


	2. the redhaired fox

_so i cranked this out a lot faster than i thought i would. thanks for the support :)_

_

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To Hikaru's surprise, Mitani and Akari got along quite well. The red head was exceedingly quite, and made a unique dynamic between him and TsuiTsui. As he pulled his number five jersey over his head on the way to another soccer game, he mulled over the surprising luck of Haze's Go club. Not only did they have him, but also TsuiTsui, who could be good when he wanted, and now Mitani, who also played well—regardless of his thievery or not. Not that Hikaru couldn't understand, being a (former) delinquent himself.

"What did you ever get on your record, anyway?" Yuuki asked as he leaned against the door of the science room, while Hikaru handed him his money.

Hikaru gave him an elusive smile. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Hikaru's got a record?" TsuiTsui gaped, looking at the blonde with something akin to horror.

He rolled his eyes. "You make it out to be _way _worse than it really is."

Akari, the only one in the room who did happen to know, said nothing, swinging her legs atop the high seat of the science room's lab stools.

He remembered those days almost wistfully. How long had it been since he stole something? Or, even, hot-wired a car? Not that he was any good at the latter, the reason he was caught.

But on the bright side, at least if he kept up his grades and his good habits, he could get a computer! Hikaru rubbed his hands in excitement as he made his way to the field. Only the incentive of internet could ever inspire him so greatly. Or maybe, it had nothing to do with internet at all. Perhaps it was simply the idea of getting to play Go all the time, more so than the hour or two he played Shidou go with Akari and, sometimes even, TsuiTsui. Shidou Go just didn't compare to the intense feeling he had when he played Touya, an undecipherable coil in his stomach that pulled, made his heart thrum faster and his eyes get lost in the swirl of black and white.

There was just something about go…

Hikaru shook his head.

Why was he thinking about that now?! He had a game in an hour or two, and he needed to be completely in the zone. Shinra High was uncommonly good, and he was a bit worried. Not only was he competing for the spot of striker with Tachibana third year, but also Tsukasa, the original striker who had injured his leg last season was being put in again. While Hikaru hadn't been there to see him play, the way the other teammates spoke of him with such a refined voice made Hikaru worry.

"Shindou!" Taro called, from where he had haphazardly dropped his duffel bag on the bench.

He waved in return, jogging lightly to level with the older boy before dropping his bag as well. "Warm up started yet?"

Taro shook his head. "Nah, but everyone's here mostly, I figure Tachibana'll—

"Alright everyone! Five laps!"

An accumulation of groans from the younger players echoed, but Hikaru did so obligingly. He was too nervous as it was, and he needed to stretch his legs out.

He examined his wrists as he ran, wrapped in tape from where to bone jutted out to spiral onto his thumb and index finger. Last game against Kaio he had jammed his finger when the defensemen he was trying to pass hacked him, and the two of them went tumbling into the mud. Not only did it take him a lengthy amount of time to get the dirt out of his ear, his finger was jammed and he didn't get the new angle for his instep drive he wanted to try.

"See that guy right there?" Taro elbowed him lightly, nudging with his head.

Near the coach, a third-year with tousled dark hair was grinning ear to ear.

"That's Tsukasa."

Hikaru only shrugged. Regardless of who was the team's striker, he was still a starting forward, and that was all that mattered to him.

--

--

The airplane ride to Japan was downright abysmal.

Not only was Hon Suyon bad company, but he usually required a perpetual sustenance of food to keep his thoughts at bay, not indulging him would usually end up with a sick and moody Suyon, so Yongha obliged.

They hadn't been friends for very long—and Yongha was even a bit touchy with calling him that—but the other boy was good. At least, he was good for an insei. Yongha, already a shodan, didn't feel he needed to worry about Suyon ever passing him. Regardless of how good the boy was at the moment, he would never get any better with that stuck up attitude. Not that Yongha's disrespectful one was any better.

Their chaperone, a young nervous man who spoke both Korean and Japanese, ushered them out of the airport. Yongha took out his sunglasses and put them on, enjoying the deeply tinted world more so than the sunlit one. Behind him, a couple teenage girls began to giggle and whisper quickly in Japanese. The action didn't go unnoticed by Suyon, who, miffed, crossed his arms and pouted.

"What's so cool about Yongha, anyway?" He asked, eyes closed, more to himself than to the auburn-haired fourteen year old next to him.

Yongha only split a smile at Suyon's ridiculously immature actions, sliding into the taxi easily.

"Sensei," He called to the man in the front, who was saying something to the driver. "Where is this convention?"

The man blinked a bit when he addressed him—Yongha grudgingly using the suffix, and only because he had already forgotten the man's name—and answered, with a flustered look, "Not too far, Yongha-san. The hotel is located near the…"

The two Korean players had travelled this far for a convention with the Meijin, in which young pros from around the world gathered to listen to the man and learn a part of his wisdom. Yongha didn't care much for it, sure the Meijin was an excellent player, he certainly wasn't going to contradict that, but he didn't believe he could improve his Go by watching the guy talk. Playing him, however, was a different story entirely.

"I'm excited." Suyon whispered from beside him, and Yongha wanted to roll his eyes. Typical.

"For what?" He asked lazily. No matter how good his Go was, he was still a rude, arrogant, fourteen-year old boy. "He's just a guy."

Suyon sputtered. "He's the _Meijin_," He whispered with reverence. "The greatest go player alive."

Yongha frowned.

He didn't want to believe that. Surely, there was another. What a sad existence it must be, to be at the top without any rival to encourage you to do better, defending your crown from useless weaker players. Perhaps it angered him so due to its close relation to his own situation. Who was his rival? He looked at his hands, gathered in his lap. Certainly not Suyon. In a few years, maybe. But certainly not now. Who was good enough? There were many higher dans who were better than him, but not that he could consider his rival.

"—is good too, I hear." Suyon was saying. "He's not a pro yet, though. But I don't think he's in the program to be one, either."

"Hmm?" He hummed, not really listening to the younger boy. "Who?"

"Touya Akira!" Suyon cried.

Yongha turned around a bit to face him, instead of appeasing himself by watching the passing scenery from the window. "Who's that?"

"The Meijin's son!"

"Obviously." He rolled his eyes. They had the same surname. "What about him?"

"He's rumored to be a go genius." Suyon blinked, before the words sunk in. "Just like you!"

Yongha shrugged. "How old is he?"

Suyon frowned in thought. "Around my age, I guess. Maybe even younger. I don't really know about him because he isn't a pro yet, or even an insei."

Yongha lost a bit of interest.

"But he's still really good!"

Didn't matter what Suyon said, Ko Yongha sighed, the boy wasn't meant to be his rival.

The car pulled up to the sleek looking building that spiraled into the sky with a dizzying height. Yongha didn't pay it much mind, unlike Suyon, who gaped audibly and near dropped his suitcase. There were many buildings like this in Korea, and the auburn-haired boy didn't get what the big deal was. The lobby was crowded with other Go players, many dressed in ironed suits and fancy button downs. Yongha looked down at his jeans and long sleeve. And then looked around at the crowd that seemed to maintain a quota of thirty-five and up. The only one younger than him here was Suyon, who was bouncing excitedly. But Suyon didn't count.

Sensei squeezed past the crowded lobby to the reception desk, checking them in with a bit of an anxious grin, as Yongha leaned against one of the pillars with a sigh. The chandelier above them was placed in the center of the room, crystals sparkling in the sunlight from the window conveniently in front of it. Beside him, Suyon entertained himself by scanning the crowd, rolling on his heels. For once, he wasn't wearing his usual stuck-up looking face.

Sensei called them over and they rode the elevator with a couple other people before getting to their floor. Sensei had his own room, while Yongha and Suyon were sharing.

Once the red haired boy got to his room, he threw his bags onto the bed and stormed out.

Suyon, who had been checking out the channels on the TV, blinked in surprise. He ran to the threshold, watching Yongha's disappearing form. "Where are you going?!"

"Out." He waved behind his shoulder.

Suyon blinked. "B-But the convention—

"Isn't for an hour or two." The newly minted Korean pro rolled his eyes. "I'll be back before then."

Suyon, unsure of what to say—not that he could say much, once Yongha wanted to do something it was incredibly hard to persuade him out of it—to the mulish shodan, and instead, closed the door with a sigh.

Yongha could do whatever he wanted, the younger boy supposed, because no one was there to stop him.

There never really had been one, anyway.

Japan seemed to be distinctly like Korea, suffering in the unwavering heat that was near poetic injustice. The streets were particularly crowded, and Yongha found himself taking a few short cuts and ending up in the suburban zoning of the city. He didn't know how long he had walked, but he didn't really feel up to going to that stupid convention anyway. All it was going to be was a great player showing off a couple plays, and then being asked a heap load of questions. Inevitably, he would have fallen asleep by the end of it. So why not do something a little more productive, like some sight seeing?

Not that there was much sight seeing to do. Japan's outstanding similarities to Korea hardly made the experience fun, and Yongha ended up getting lost in his thoughts as he meandered about.

What was the point in playing go, when there was nothing to strive for? Sure, he wanted to be the best, he wanted to play the divine move—what go player didn't? But what of after that? He was obviously going to become an exceptional higher dan, maybe even win a few titles. But what was he doing to do after that? Sit around like Touya Meijin and host extravagantly boring conventions in which no one challenged him? What kind of existence was that?

A couple girls wearing a uniform passed him, and he could pick up a few of the things they had said. He had taken a Japanese class ever since grade school, so his Japanese wasn't too bad. He usually didn't care enough to bother to tell people that, though. And it certainly was amusing when even the translators got it wrong.

He came across a schoolyard, where a conglamoration of people had gathered near a field.

He stood by the sidelines, off to the side and away from the screaming fans. It was football, obviously. Even though he'd never bothered with sports he could tell the game when he saw it (probably because Suyon was so obsessed with it) and it seemed to be neck and neck.

One of the players with the black and white jersey had attempted a goal, but the goalie had stopped it and punted it to the midway point, one of his midfielders dribbling it and passing it to an offender who scored.

Yongha sighed.

Sports. So boring.

Or maybe that was an unfair statement, they weren't boring, but they hardly required any thinking. Usually, someone did the thinking for you and then you went out and did the play the came up with. And also, sports were typically unfair. One person is always going to have an advantage simply because of hereditary, depending on who their parents were they might simply have been born with higher stamina than someone else. That's just the way the world worked. Perhaps it was the same as in Go. Would that Touya Akira be as good as Suyon said if it wasn't for the fact his father was the best in the world?

Probably, Yongha smirked. Go was about talent.

The black and white team called a time out, and the players huddled into a circle on both teams.

When they came back out, a young boy about a head shorter than him with bleached blonde hair came out onto the field.

--

--

"You sure you'll be okay out there, Shindou?" Coach asked, eying the bandages on his wrist and now the matching ones on his ankles.

He had gotten injured by a slide tackle in the first half…but not after another banana kick from the corner arc over the goalie. How Hikaru had ever gotten past that built central defender was beyond him. It was quickly becoming Hikaru's signature.

The two toned boy smiled, as he took another sip of Gatorade. "Yeah." He nodded. "I can do this, coach."

Regardless of whether he could or not, he'd have to. They were down by one and Tachibana wasn't doing so hot. He got like that when he became frustrated with himself. And Tsukasa was currently playing midfield, to help ease his transition back into the game. And quite frankly, the dark haired boy didn't seem all too happy with the amount of running he was being put through.

The man gave him an encouraging pat on the back, before shoving him onto the field.

--

--

The black and white goalie cleared the ball up the field, past the centerline and one of the midfielders trapped it before it could roll past him. The boy was fast, dark hair flying as he past it to the strange boy with blonde and black hair.

Currently, Yongha was lost about what the crowd's fascination with the young boy was, and was debating whether he should leave and go to that convention or wait it out and bide some more time.

In the end, he watched the match a little longer, as the boy placed a well-aimed kick to the corner that the goalie somehow managed to block with the tips of his fingers. The crowd roared in anguish, and the boy himself didn't look all too happy. The ball changed sides and the attacker from the white and blue team had a man to man with the central defender of the school he'd come to know as Haze, who luckily stole the ball and drove up field.

The crowd roared again, and Yongha was just about to wonder what was so special about this little boy when he saw it himself.

He passed by the defensive pressure, catching the ball after it deflected from one of the opposition's shoulders.

As he neared the central defender, a flurry of quick foot work had the larger boy stunned as the ball passed through between his feet, the younger blonde diving past him and driving towards the goal. He ended up being cut off by one of the other defenders who had caught up to him.

Yongha checked the time for the game. Less than a minute. Haze would probably lose.

The boy with dark black hair scuffled with the defender from the other team, eventually passing it to the blonde boy who was still on the ground.

Instead of the ball turning over, like he had originally suspected would happen, the blonde boy flipped backwards in front of the goal, the ball getting caught on his shin and slamming into the netting behind the stunned goalie.

The crowd roared at the bicycle kick.

The game ended a few seconds after that, and Yongha decided he wouldn't stick around, and might as well go to the convention. At least then, he would be in his element.

"Hikaru-kun, leaving so soon?" Akari frowned as she neared the team, as the coach ended his closing remarks.

The blonde, who had doused himself in water and was currently shaking out the wetness from his hair gave her a sunny smile. "Yeah, I'm probably going to head home."

He didn't feel it was imperative to say he was doing so because he had a book of Shuusaku kifu his grandfather had given him before the game, and that he was desperate to study it and would be mortified beyond belief if any of his teammates found it in his bag.

"Eh?" Akari blinked. "Why not stay a little longer? Your parents are here anyway…"

"Nah," Hikaru shook his head, already taking off in the other direction without even taking off his cleats. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

In his hurry, he hadn't noticed that he'd dropped the kifu he had tried so hard to keep inconspicuously when he jabbed his overstuffed duffel bag to get his water out of it. Lucky for him, Akari hadn't noticed, already retreating back into the field where proud parents had flooded the winning team, Hikaru dashing off to the shaded corner of the field where hopefully less people would spy him walking off and call him to come back.

"Oi, you dropped this."

Hikaru paled considerably.

He checked his bag, and realized with some amount of horror that the kifu wasn't in there anymore. His breath hitched, and he turned around, struggling to come up with some sort of excuse, wondering which of his teammates had saw—if it was Ryou, he'd _never _hear the end of it—a lie already on his tongue.

"I—It's not mine," He began as he turned around guiltily. "It's—

He blinked.

In front of him, a boy around his age (or perhaps, a bit older) leaned back as he studied the book with an intense eye, no amount of scorn on his face. Hikaru had never seen him before, and he was sure he'd notice long, wine colored hair like that. The other boy was wearing a nondescript black button down, sleeves rolled to his elbows, covering the top of his dark jeans. He looked pretty normal.

So why wasn't he laughing yet?

"Shuusaku?" The older boy murmured. "Impressive. Do you study go?"

"What's it matter to you?" Hikaru glowered, wondering where this was going.

The other boy shrugged. "It doesn't." He gave the blonde a once over. He still had his cleats on, and dirtied socks. But he had taken off his shin guards and had changed out of his jersey and into a dark green shirt with Japanese lettering on it.

Yongha immediately thought of the convention, which was probably going to begin at any moment.

And then he was reminded how much he didn't want to go.

"Play a game with me."

Hikaru didn't seem to have heard him at first, folding his arms and beginning to say something, before he stopped. "Wait—what?"

"A game." He motioned to the game recreated on the pages.

"Huh?" Hikaru's eyes widened. "Go?"

"What else?" He rolled his eyes. Honestly, he never thought he'd meet someone more thickheaded than Suyon. "A match."

"Why now?" He asked cautiously, unsure of where this was going.

Yongha shrugged. "Why any time?"

Hikaru looked at the other boy cautiously. What an enigma. What was he doing at his soccer game, anyway? People don't randomly show up and ask for Go games. Especially not people his age.

"But where?"

Again, the red head shrugged. "Anywhere. Who cares?"

Hikaru groaned in frustration. Who did this guy think he was? "You can't just—

"I passed a Go salon on my way here." Yongha mused, tugging the blonde with him.

"Eh?!" Hikaru struggled against his grip, but the other boy had his bad wrist, and the more the struggled the more it hurt. "Wait a minute—

In the end, no matter what arguments Hikaru tried to put up, the other boy had a vague devil-may-care answer to retort with, and Hikaru played along and followed the boy without complaint. As they weaved through the densely crowded streets, he learned that his Go kidnapper's name was Ko Yongha, and he had come to Japan for a go convention that he had obviously skipped to end up watching his soccer game, which lead to him being intrigued as to why a star soccer player would be carrying around Shuusaku's kifu, which lead to Hikaru staring impassively at the large sign that signaled the Meijin's Go Salon. Who would be in there?

"This is the Meijin's salon." He read aloud, knowing that Yongha probably couldn't read Japanese as well as he could speak it.

He shrugged. "So?"

Yongha caught sight of Hikaru's contrary expression, and decided the boy might have some sort of fear for the scary Meijin. He wanted to laugh, but he was reminded that the Meijin was pretty scary looking.

"He's not here." And with a passing look to Hikaru's lost face, he added. "The Meijin."

"He isn't?"

Yongha shook his head. "He's teaching at the convention I was supposed to go to."

Hikaru chuckled. "Why didn't you go?"

"It's boring." Yongha closed his eyes with an irritated look, stuffing his hands into his pockets as his eyes turned skyward. He was again haunted with the question of why he was here, in this life, playing Go with no one to satisfy his quench with.

Hikaru laughed. He was liking this guy already, even though he had dragged him halfway across town to play a game of Go.

And Hikaru would be lying to himself if he said that he didn't want to play. There was this itching sort of feeling within him, a flutter of his heart at the thought of a heart-racing game. And he stopped himself suddenly. When had this yearning for Go erupted inside of him?

Ichikawa poured Kitajima-san another cup of tea with a delighted smile on her face, brushing orange hair behind her ear. Akira-kun and Meijin-san were both at the convention, but the go parlor still bustled with activity.

She heard the chime of the door sliding open, "I'll be right there!" She called, dancing around the tables with the teapot. She sat it down next to the water coolers in the corner, before rushing to the counter with a bright smile. "Welcome to the Meijin's Go Salon, how can I help you—

She gaped.

There was Shindou, the bane of Akira-kun's existence for the past couple months, the reason why he didn't take the pro exam this year and was dawdling around in school tournaments, blonde hair tousled and his entire body scuffed with dirt. He smiled at her, leaning back on his cleats, a smudge of dirt on his cheek and covering his legs.

The boy next to him looked a bit more composed, hands stuffed into his pockets and giving her an insufferable look that made her want to flinch back.

"Hi Ichikawa-san!" Hikaru greeted, penning his name down. "Rank…rank….I'm not very sure."

Ichikawa hummed in thought. "Well, you did beat Akira-kun," Next to him, the redheaded boy stiffened and looked surprised. She added with a bit of ire in her eyes, "_Twice. _So I'd say…1d?"

"Alright." Shindou nodded, handing the pen to Yongha.

The other boy sent him a deadpan. "I can't write in Japanese." He said, as if it was obvious.

Hikaru laughed sheepishly. "Oh yeah. Woops." He penned down the other boy's name. "Rank?" He looked expectantly to the other boy.

"Shodan." The boy replied. Before pausing. "So 1p."

The girl at the counter looked at him in a new light, as if she hadn't thought he was a professional.

She turned back to Hikaru. "500 yen, please!"

"Wha—?!" Hikaru groaned, patting his pockets. "Man, I forgot about that!"

"No Akira-kun to let you in free!" Ichikawa chirped, with a sadistic grin on her face as she held out her hand.

Instead, Shindou's handsome friend gave her the money. For both of them.

Hikaru blinked at him, the same time Ichikawa did.

He shrugged. "I did drag you here, after all."

"Point taken!" Hikaru nodded, bustling past the other customers who watched him with a curious gaze. He led Yongha to the back near the plants with the strange blue lighting, where he and Akira had played for the first time. It was usually more secluded back here, and he didn't want those nosey old people getting into his business as usual. He sat down with a smile, his mood increasing by the moment. Not only were the Meijin and his son out and definitely not coming back for a while, but he was also getting a free game of Go. With a pro, no less. Who would have known!

Yongha eyed him, as if taking him in once again. "You beat Touya Akira?"

Hikaru looked up, as he grabbed a handful of white stones. "Yeah, but people make it out to be a lot more than it is. Nigiri?"

Yongha nodded, placing two stones in his hand.

Either Hikaru was stronger then he let on, or Touya was weaker then Suyon seemed to think.

"Alright, I'm black." Hikaru nodded, with a bit of a pleasant smile.

Yongha leaned back, and waited for his first move.

He didn't hold his stones like a person who played Go. In fact, he barely even held it between his fingers correctly, and he seemed to be impressed by the way the Korean pro held his stones. Perhaps, that was simply because Hikaru was easily impressed. The longer they played, the more Yongha noticed that Hikaru's Joseki was a bit outdated. As if it had been taken straight from a Shuusaku book, and only recently had the play begun to change to adapt to modern times and styles. For example, his liberal use of the Shuusaku diagonal.

_But, _Yongha mused, _he certainly wasn't bad. Actually, he's meeting my offensive with solid moves. _

The auburn-haired boy watched him carefully, noting the strange look that had overcome Hikaru. As if he had no idea what he was doing, yet held his own anyway.

_I'll have to watch this kid, _thought the Korean pro _he's definitely worth watching. _

As the flow of the game went on, Hikaru felt himself pulled in to the warping images of the game. He remembered their shine so clearly, even though he hardly saw such cleaned stones since the Go Club used slightly broken ones. There was something mesmerizing about the slow swirl of black and white, creating patters across the goban the way stars lit up the universe.

"_My ultimate wish is to play go"_

/pa-chi/

/pa-chi/

Unblinking, his gaze didn't waver from the board, as if it had begun to make sense to him.

Yongha cursed silently under his breath. He had lost the center.

Hikaru was better then good, he was excellent. Flawless in his performance and equally flawless in his cutthroat offensive. You wouldn't think it from the scruffy soccer player, treading into a Go Salon with cleats and knee socks, scuffed in dirt and tousled from a game mere minutes ago, but he was an impressive sight to see. Not only did he hold his own, it was almost like he was watching the Korean pro from a spot far above him, waiting for him to fall into his trap.

Another fierce battle for territory in the upper right corner and Yongha knew he had lost.

Shindou was too good.

He leaned back in his chair, letting out a breath of air.

In front of him, the board was transformed into abstract patterns.

"I resign." He sighed, still reeling in he shock of being beaten by a amateur.

Hikaru blinked at him, as if he had only then realized that the game was over.

"U—uh," He stuttered, looking quite embarrassed about the whole thing. "You're really good, Yongha."

"Of course I am." He pointed out. "I made Shodan a month ago, but that was only because I was lazy. I could have been a pro three years ago."

He looked down at the board.

"I had thought that the only ones who could challenge me were those higher than I." He waved his hand in a gesture to the board. "Obviously I was wrong."

Hikaru smiled with a tinge to his cheeks.

When the blonde didn't answer, Yongha looked up. "Where did you learn this Go?"

Hikaru didn't know what to say. He rubbed his blonde bangs out of his face. "I….picked it up I guess."

"Do you have a mentor?"

"A mentor?" Hikaru echoed. "Like a teacher?"

Yongha nodded. "Yes."

Hikaru shook his head. "Not really, no. I learned from books." He looked down at his hands, quietly. As if they held the answers. "And I…feel like I can feel the game, I guess. I don't know how to put it into words. But its like a river—I can tell how it will flow, and where it will go. All I have to do is keep up with it." He looked lamely at the other boy. "Does that make sense?"

Yongha slowly shook his head. He was bad enough already at understanding metaphors in another language, let alone ones that didn't make an ounce of sense. "Not really, no."

Hikaru groaned. "I just, I know what will happen, I guess. It all makes sense to me."

"That's called reading ahead." Yongha explained. "You're very good at it."

"Thanks?" Hikaru opted for, unsure of what to say.

Yongha began to point out some parts of the game, to which Hikaru nodded. "And this move you made here, the kosumi—

"Kosumi?" Hikaru interrupted. "What's that?"

Yongha gave him a blank stare. When he didn't say anything for a few more seconds, Hikaru became worried. "You don't know what a Kosumi is?"

"No…?"

"Do you even know any Go terms?"

"Hey!" Hikaru protested. "I know the basics!"

"Obviously not." Yongha hissed under his breath. "Anyway, this move right here is a Kosumi."

The more Yongha explained, the more it made sense. And the more it made sense, the more Hikaru felt something awaken inside of him.

--

--

"Yongha didn't show up." Suyon muttered to himself, standing in the lobby with Sensei, who appeared more flustered than usual.

Suyon scanned the crowd. The convention was over now, it wasn't a very long one to begin with. He hadn't been able to ask Meijin-sensei anything, mainly because of the crowd of people that clamored to do the same.

He spotted the Meijin's son, an impassive, serene look on his face as he waited near the door. At first, Suyon had been infinitely jealous of the boy. He was the Meijin's son after all, and could ask the Meijin anything he wanted at any time. But as he studied the boy more, he realized there was more to that. Constantly living in someone's shadow, and the more he watched, the more he realized that the boy probably had little or no time with his father at all. He remembered his father, a go amateur, and his uncle, a go salon owner, who were so grateful and proud of him, supporting him all the time.

Akira watched the lugubrious clouds as they mulled by him, dwarfing him and the Tokyo towers in their size and ashen color. It had been so sunny that afternoon, he wondered if it as going to rain now. While learning from his father was always eventful to some extent, he wasn't up to it today. His thoughts were on Shindou, again. What was the boy doing now? His mood soured. Probably playing soccer. Why didn't Shindou play go? When he was so talented at it? How long would he stand in this world, watching the pros above him without a rival?

There apparently was supposed to be another pro his age who was coming from Korea. But he hadn't saw anyone remotely his age. Only a young boy, but he wasn't a pro. Perhaps he had heard wrong.

"Father—

He started, to his father who had been talking to some colleagues behind him, only to find his father had strayed to the center of the room, amidst a sea of people all asking questions.

Akira sighed. Probably not the best time.

Instead, he walked out alone, hailing a taxi to take him back to the salon. Maybe he could spend the rest of the day practicing go and recreating his game with Shindou.

Ichikawa grumbled to herself.

She hadn't bothered Hikaru and his friend for obvious reasons, the two had secluded themselves in the back and she doubted they'd like to be disturbed. The two seemed to be playing an intense game.

She had opted to flutter around the rest of the customer like a social butterfly, asking them the customary greetings, pouring tea, and to the ones she knew better, asking about kids, grandkids, and so on. She enjoyed the work at the Go Salon, even more so when Akira-kun was there. He was such a polite, adorable child, never making a loud fuss like Hikaru and never carried that aloof, unnerving personality like the Korean Pro who had walked in a while ago, even though Akira was probably just as strong as the other boy.

"Oh?" Kitajima's opponent looked up, and so did the other grumpy man. "Where did Shindou-kun run off to?"

"Who cares?" The characteristically grumpy man slammed another stone down. "That kid, doing such things to the young master, who does he think he is? Akira-sensei is obviously better than him."

"I don't know," Ichikawa tapped her chin thoughtfully. "For an amateur, Shindou-kun is surprisingly good. I know Akira-kun wants him to take the pro examinations as well." She sighed. "Akira-kun has high hopes for that one."

"Him and that other boy though," Ichikawa went on to say. "They seemed to be really into that—_eh_?!"

The two patrons and a handful of others near enough to hear the young lady squawk turned to her.

She grumbled to herself. "Honestly! Those two boys! Don't they have any manners?" She stomped over to the back, where the two boys had left their game, without bothering to clean it up. "You have to clean them up after you're done! I'm a waitress, not a maid—

"Oh Akira-kun!" Kitajima grinned. "There you are!"

Ichikawa looked up, near dancing over back to the counter, placing her head on her hands as she kept them up with her elbows while she leaned over the counter.

"Akira-kun!" She sang. "How was the convention?"

Akira gave her a tight smile, his blue eyes scanning the room. "It was fine."

"Afternoon, Ichikawa-san!" Said one of the customers, as he entered. He blinked. "Oh, and afternoon to you as well, Akira-sensei!"

Akira blushed. "Please, Miyazaki-san…I'm no sensei…"

"Ah?" The man hadn't replied, instead, peering over the entry sign up sheet. "Shindou-kun was here?"

Akira blinked, before immediately looking at the sheet as well. And there it was, in Hikaru's abysmal and sloppy handwriting—Hikaru Shindou, 4:35, 5:49

Touya would have swore if it wasn't against his nature. He had missed him by ten minutes. If only he had come sooner…

"Oh yes, Shindou-kun." Ichikawa nodded, and, with a bit of a blush. "He came here with another boy, really handsome, that one. "

The young dark-haired boy looked up, a feeling of betrayal in his stomach. Shindou would fight vehemently deny him a game yet play so easily with another person?"Another boy?"

Ichikawa seemed surprised at his interest. "Err—yes, it didn't seem like Shindou-kun wanted to be here, though. What was that boy's name again? I'd have to see the paper…" She trailed off, trying to careen over Miyazaki's head to read upside down. She closed her eyes in a huff. "The both of them, so rude. They hadn't even bothered to clean up their game—

Akira's eyes notably widened. "Where were they playing?"

"In the back." Ichikawa motioned, too busy trying to read to notice Akira hurriedly walk over to the back where Shindou and Yongha had played their game.

* * *

_Bah, thoughts? _


	3. faltering hands

_eight thousand words, woops.

* * *

_

It was as if that man had killed the world, seedy, cheating gaze ingrained into his mind.

The sky wrenching its jaws apart to swallow him whole, crumbling behind a demigod's raging screams as he stood in silence amongst the wavering lines of the billowing smoke that made nineteen perfect lines and couldn't understand what it all meant. The feeling that welled beneath him, lost beneath the shining white and intense black that scorned his heart.

There was some sort of immense pressure against his heart, twisting it and curling with dark shadowed hands and twining through his veins, setting his blood on fire and searing his cells. Burning like Indian summer, crushing his soul until he couldn't breath, there it was in front of him, the answer to everything, lost within the turning tides that ebbed at the watery shores, behind his eyelids the smudge of sunlit orange dying red ocher, monet garden series beautiful so much so that it blossomed in bright sparks that over shadowed his vision and he was falling faster, lost beneath the pressure that tore his heart and swayed between his lips in an indefinable graceless effort, the bane of his existence as his eyes snapped open—but they weren't open, were they?—and tendrils of Prussian like the quickwork splashes of a watercolor brush surrounded him and then.

Hikaru drew in a harsh intake of breath as his eyes snapped open, blue as if someone had caught the sky and placed it in them, right below the slightest spray of freckles just beneath the surface of his skin.

Inside him, the dream had awoken a restless, uneasy smoke that curled against his soul, and when he closed his eyes the color orange burned his eyes until he had o open them again.

--

"Hikaru—

Akari stopped suddenly, as the boy turned to fully look at him.

They were on their way to school, and she had her hand just above her eyes so that the rising sun that kissed the tops of the buildings didn't blind her as she tried to make out the shadowed lining of her best friend.

Hikaru was strange that morning, hands in his pocket and bag on his back, regrettably carrying more clothes for soccer than books, a capricious look on his face as he scanned the horizon. For a moment, she could have sworn his eyes were blue, a deep rich hue like the stratosphere that stretched above them, as if his eyes were paper cut outs and the sky from behind him could shine through them.

And then he turned to face her, and they were green again.

"What's up, Akari-chan?" He gave her a grin that tingled the bottom of her heart.

She made a slight noise, unsure of what she was even going to say, or how to put it into words. "For a second…I thought…" She shook her head. "Never mind. It's nothing."

Hikaru sent her a confused look, but didn't question further. His eyes maundered about the horizon line, as if he had something he wanted to say but hadn't the beginning of an idea on how to say it.

But Hikaru was Hikaru, tactless as always. "I'll catch up with you later, Akari-chan." He said, as he veered off the street and down one of the corners, leaving her quite speechless, mouth agape.

"W—Wha—" Her face flushed angrily, as she shouted to his retreating form. "Hikaru! Don't you dare skip!"

"Akari-chan!" He turned around to face her as he walked backwards, a sheepish smile on his face. "It's for a good cause!" He retorted meekly.

"Good cause?!" She echoed tempestuously. "Good cause my ass! Get back here!"

Obviously, he didn't.

"_Hikaru_!"

Said blonde boy made quick work of using the small alleyways between houses—he'd been skipping ever since he'd made friends with the wrong crowd last summer, and knew the short cuts to the city like the back of his hand—to shuffle farther and farther from his shouting friend. Either she eventually gave up and walked without him or he was simply too far to hear.

The salon wasn't too far form his house anyhow, and it didn't take him long to get onto the right street to find it.

The more he thought of go, the more he wondered how the game could have such a puissant effect on him, implacable and festering in the back of his consciousness like an insufferable itch.

He pushed his way past the crowds of people making their way to work, hoping that Yongha was still there. His flight back to Korea was going to leave in three hours, and the two of them had been cramming in as many games as they could.

He took the elevator to the floor where the salon was, silently praying that Akari wouldn't tell his mother that he was skipping today. This was important.

"Sorry!" He gasped quickly, near sliding into the chair opposite of Yongha, the other boy languidly spread on the seat, leaning back and looking comfortable.

He shrugged. "No worries."

Hikaru gave him a shaky smile, more out of breath than he had thought he would be. "Nigiri?"

Yongha nodded.

While Hikaru wasn't entirely inclined to call them friends, the two of them had a mutual understanding. The blonde was sure that what Yongha felt when they played was the same that Hikaru felt when he and Touya played, but he couldn't feel the same for the Korean pro. Playing Touya was a feeling that consumed him entirely, and could rip his breath away and send him into an unblinking trance, as soundless images passed through his mind, too fast for him to comprehend but left a residual trail of emotions behind it. Playing Touya was special, and he felt as if he should cherish the moments, and use them sparingly.

Or maybe, he didn't play the other boy because he was afraid of what it did to him?

What it opened?

The game finished a lot faster than Hikaru thought it would, (it still had taken an hour to do so) Yongha admitting defeat before yose .The Korean pro couldn't get over the immense power that Hikaru exerted, this unmoving wall of pressure that surrounded him, and defeated him so cleanly.

"How did you get so good?" The auburn haired boy whispered, more to himself than to Hikaru.

"Honestly," Hikaru began, as he studied the board. White clearly had been leading the game the whole time. "I don't know."

When the Korean said nothing in return, Hikaru dropped his gaze to study his hand, its close placing to the go ke, and mainly, the upturned go ke cover that held captured black stones. "I feel like…this ability has always been there. I'm not sure how to explain it." He gave Yongha an apologetic smile. "I wish I could, though."

The other boy shook his head. "It's better this way. I can live with knowing that your ability has no words to it." He gave a small smile.

Hikaru laughed sheepishly.

"I came here the other day." Yongha began, as he started to clean up the stones. "And there was this boy here."

"A boy?"

Yongha nodded. "Touya Akira." Hikaru stiffened visibly. "He asked me why you played me, and I told him that I forced you to."

Hikaru said nothing for a moment, letting the information soak. Finally, he asked. "What did he say?"

"Nothing after that. I left."

Hikaru wanted to groan. Knowing Yongha, he probably arrogantly told Touya off before waltzing out of the salon, attracting a gaggle of girls as he did so. Whether Hikaru wanted to admit it or not, the Korean definitely had style.

After the two had successfully cleaned the board, they fell into an uneasy silence. Hikaru felt as if the other boy wanted to say something, but didn't know how to begin it, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably and watching him. His relationship with Yongha was a strange one, he enjoyed the boys company—actually, the guy reminded him a lot of the morons he used to hang out with, getting in trouble by trying to break into people cars, stealing radios, writing graffiti and thinking they were cool, but Yongha went about it in a refined kind of way, not as if he had something to prove, but because he simply didn't give a fuck about what others thought of him. Hikaru smiled briefly. Yongha was cool like that.

"What's up?" He asked lightly, his eyes meeting the pro's, who held his gaze unwaveringly.

"I want you to become a pro, Hikaru."

The younger boy blinked, once, twice.

"Eh?"

"A pro." He reiterated. "A professional Go player."

"Me?" Hikaru began confused, unable to comprehend what Yongha wanted to do, not even being able to surface the tip of the magnititude it would cause his life in the future.

When Yongha nodded, Hikaru hoped that the were having some sort of language translation issues.

"You can't be serious…" He began quickly, already backtracking. "I mean…I'm not really that good—

"You are." The Korean interrupted quickly. "Better than me. Better that Touya Akira."

"T—That might be true…" He gulped. "But I'm just not…_meant _to be—

The words didn't make it past his mouth.

_a go player_

But something deep inside of him, awakening in a blustering flurry of wordless, soundless film, deracinated inside of him, grabbing hold and swaying slowly like a bud in the wind.

"I don't have any reason to." Hikaru found his words at last, answering lamely.

"Isn't it enough of a reason to play simply because you're good at it?" Yongha tilted his head, as if not understanding.

Hikaru shook his head. "No it's not. There are people out there…" Vividly, he remembered Touya's stricken face when he lost, unable to comprehend the sheer vertigo he had caused the other boy, unable to realize what it meant to be so determined to succeed. "Who spend their life for this game, working hard and trying to become better and better, struggling to—to—

To play the hand of god.

"_I have yet to play the divine move" _

Why did those words ring in his ears so clearly?

"Become the best. I'd be offending anyone who's ever had a true love for the game." He ended with conviction.

Hikaru hadn't realized he'd been at the Go salon for so long. Outside, the sun was almost nearing its peak, light shining in from the window behind Yongha and lining the edge of his face in brilliant gold.

The Korean looked down at him, sun bright behind him, eyes narrowed. "Who told you those words?"

Hikaru blinked. No one had told him. But he could remember how he had insulted Touya, and he figured by just having his skill he was insulting anyone who had ever had a shrivel of passion for the game.

"That's wrong." The boy retorted. "You're a gift, Hikaru."

Belatedly, Hikaru realized that was the first time the boy had ever used his name.

"A gift to the Go world. Why would you hide yourself away?" Yongha seemed to be getting slightly angry now, and Hikaru wondered what was up with him and igniting the wrath of Go players. Perhaps he had an innate talent for that as well. "There are many people," The Korean seemed to choke on his words then, looking away with a bit of a blush. "Like me, who have been dying to play with someone like you for many years. To not take yourself seriously and not become a pro would be a grievous loss to anyone who knows how to play Go."

His heart gave a strange flutter at that, as if those were the exact words he'd wanted to hear.

"I—thank you." He smiled, softly.

Yongha checked his watch. "Shit." He looked back to Hikaru. "My flight's leaving in an hour. I have to go."

Hikaru nodded, standing too, and closing the go ke. "I'll think about what you said." His eyes held a fiery, withheld determination. "I promise."

Yongha seemed to take that as a decent answer.

"See you around then, Hikaru."

And he tossed him a crumpled piece of paper.

He didn't open it for many moments, watching Yongha's casual retreating form, as the teen moved languidly around the tables and made Ichikawa swoon as he bid her farewell, which ended with the young woman crooning about how he had his first Japanese fan as he walked out the door. And as he stood there, a maelstrom of winds and words inside him, he wondered why he felt as if he had awakened from a deep slumber. Only after many minutes of simply standing there, watching these people around him who all held a love for Go, did he finally open the paper that Yongha had given him.

It was a number.

_When you decide to be a pro, tell me._

_--_

_(many months later)_

_--_

Akira had to admit, explaining to his father that the reason he had joined Kaio's go team was because of one Shindou Hikaru seemed a bit harder in hindsight. There were many better ways he could have phrased himself, but in the end, his father seemed to get his point. And, dare he say, with a pleased look in his eye?

Not that it entirely mattered. The point was that he had explained the situation to his father, who only seemed passingly amused by the idea.

"I'm going to be late." Hikaru hissed to himself, shoving the rest of his algebra homework into his bag.

The summer sun was bright and beat down mercilessly, the rest of his teammates surely feeling the heat as they ran about on the field. Practice was over, but most of the varsity team had stayed behind for some one on one drills with Captain. Hikaru watched Tsukasa—who had retained his former glory—without any jealousy. Strange, he would have been burning in it a while ago. But for some reason, the Go Tournament weighed more heavily on his mind.

He snapped his homework shut in his book. Who cared about the quadratic formula, anyway? How was that ever going to help him in life?

"I'm leaving!" He called to the guys.

Taro, who had been hanging out by the back of the bleachers, smiled laconically. "Going to the Go Tournament?" He asked snidely, but his voice was devoid of any hate.

Hikaru smiled. "Hehe…can't let my team down, you know?"

The older boy only sighed and put his hands on his hips, shaking out his silvery hair. "Honestly. Balancing all this crap is hard ya'know? I can't believe a little shrimp like you can do it!"

"I'm not a shrimp!" He shot back derisively, obviously not hearing the compliment in his words.

Taro laughed. "Whatever you say. You're girlfriend going to be there?"

Hikaru looked abashed, hopping down from his spot on the top of the bleachers with ease. "Err—we don't really go out anymore."

"Oh—_oh_?! Hoo-hoo!"

Before Taro could comment any further, he dashed away down the street.

By the time he got there he had discarded his sullied shirt for the Haze uniform he had stuffed in his bag. He still had his Haze soccer shorts on, and cleats, but he couldn't change those while sprinting down the street. Remarkably, the go club had lasted all the way to June, to the game which he promised Touya. He was third board though, he frowned to himself, and Touya no doubt was going to be first, so they might not even play. He shrugged, what did it matter, anyway? But his heart said otherwise.

Playing Touya…was like what he imagined playing in the world cup would be.

Exhilarating.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he opened it as he turned a corner in a fast break, causing a young girl with groceries to squawk indignantly. Yongha and him still kept in touch through text messages ad emails, even though the Korean pro had left a couple days after their game. He still hadn't given the boy his answer though. Becoming a pro was a big step, and would define the rest of his life. Was he ready for that? They had spent the last of his days in Japan aggressively playing against each other, with Hikaru as the victor. He even had a game with that Suyon boy Yongha always spoke of, and while the difference between Suyon and Yongha was near palpable, one day Suyon would be great.

Yongha had been keeping him up to date with the latest news of his career in Korea. Today, he had made it into one of their leagues. Near unheard of for a newly minted Shodan. Yongha had only been a pro for a couple months now, yet he was already doing so well.

Hikaru smiled.

"Hikaru!" TsuiTsui called as he walked through the door to where the Tournament was being held. The young boy with glasses appeared to have been waiting for him.

He dropped his duffel bag near the chair and took a seat, smoothing out the pants he had just pulled on over his shorts. He pulled off his cleats and stuffed them into the bag, taking out his school shoes. "Am I late?" He asked, as he bent down to slip them on.

TsuiTsui shook his head. "Well no, but Mitani-kun isn't here yet." And with a quick glance. "These people scare me..." He said frightfully.

Hikaru gave a ring of laughter. "Why? They're just kids too, you know."

TsuiTsui however, didn't have years and years of team sports under his belt to not be so agitated by the pressure. "But Kaio's here…" TsuiTsui whispered.

"Well duh." Hikaru answered flippantly, scooting his chair so he was facing the older boy across the goban. "It's the reason we're here, after all."

"I mean, we'll be playing them!" He bit his lip.

Hikaru shrugged, rolling out his tense shoulders and hissing in pain. Tsukasa had landed a good blow on his forearm at practice today, and it still hurt like shit. "Let's play a game then!" He grinned cheerily. "That's help you loosen up."

As the game began, he grumbled. "Speaking of loosening up." And dropped one of his legs on the chair next to him, leaning over it to stretch it out.

"Hikaru! You could at least pay more attention!"

"I'll be fine!" He protested, leg muffling his voice. "Just concentrate on playing."

True to his word, Hikaru was leading their game while doing some of his after practice stretches. And also true, TsuiTsui was beginning to relax, regardless of the fact Hikaru was gently gaining the lead with an easing flow. TsuiTsui wondered how anyone could be that strong, and also, why said strong player wouldn't mind being third board.

Mitani came in then, and took a quick glance at the game.

"If you try to escape, you'll lose the other side." He noted, causing TsuiTsui to become even more frazzled.

"Shut up!" He yelled, bangs and glasses covering his eyes from view.

Hikaru frowned a bit in worry. "TsuiTsui-san…" Before looking back up at Mitani. "Mitani, if you're that strong, why do you cheat?"

The redhead looked like he was about to reply, when Akari poked her head through the door. She bounded up to them with a flourish, skirt twisting with her movement and blushing prettily when she caught sight of Hikaru.

"Hikaru!"

"Akari," He began. "You didn't have to come!"

"You won't understand anything anyway." He added as an afterthought.

Akari frowned. "That's not true!" She protested. "Recently TsuiTsui-san has been teaching me. I can at least capture stones and count territory." She added with a grin, as if it was some sort of major accomplishment.

And then, with a bright smile because she knew Hikaru would enjoy it, she said, "I even brought lunch!"

Like clockwork, Hikaru's grin was back. "You're the best!!"

TsuiTsui got up quickly, pushing his hands onto the table harder than he needed to. Hikaru mentally frowned, wondering why TsuiTsui was suddenly so tense. Was it because he wasn't third board this year? It wasn't like TsuiTsui wasn't good, he was killer in yose after all. He ushered Akari quickly out of the room, not making eye contact with him or Mitani, to Hikaru's puzzlement. Maybe this was just how to boy dealt with his stress, Hikaru supposed with a shrug. Everyone does it differently.

"Mitani, wanna play?"

The smaller boy shrugged indifferently. "I'll pass."

"Suit yourself!" Hikaru grinned. Mitani probably didn't have any frazzled nerves at all, he supposed dealing with games involving money would do that to a person.

He head his name behind him and, startled, he turned a bit to listen.

"_Oh, that's Haze's Shindo."_

"_Haze's—?"_

"_He beat Kaio at the last tournament." _And the guy went on to say. _"He was only a sixth grader but he disguised himself as a Jr. High student and impressed those who watched him with some brilliant play."_

Hikaru blushed a bit as the crowd became amazed.

His game with the boy from Kaio had been pretty amazing he supposed, from the eyes of a bewildered watcher. But to him, it was as natural as a painter smoothing lines on paper. He remembered Touya's bitterly jealous words to him, and how much he wanted to have been the one to play that game. Hikaru wondered where Touya was. The boy was probably sizing up the other first boards.

"Man," He smiled to himself, head resting in his hands. "I wonder what their third captain is like."

"It's me," Said a voice behind him.

He lifted his head quickly and swiveled around.

"Kaio's third captain is me," There was fire in that voice, a fire that had burned for almost a halfyear in coming. "Shindou."

"Touya!!"

He blinked suddenly. Wait, third captain? "W—why are you…?!" He stood quickly. "Third captain?" Touya was fully capable of being a pro already. In fact, Hikaru would go on to say that Touya and Yongha would be evenly matched, regardless of Yongha's ability to play higher dans. Therefore, he could certainly be first board on a school tournament.

"Remember how you said that you wouldn't play me?" He began, intense-eyed and stone-faced. "You said you were entering a go tournament."

"…I'm finally here."

Akira had gone through great lengths to get to this moment. Not only had Yun-sensei adamantly refused to make him into third board until after extensive persuasion, he had been boiling over his match with Shindou ever since that fateful day at the go salon.

His eyes narrowed in conviction, "I'm not going to lose like before."

Hikaru wasn't sure what to say to that, lost in the intense emotions that brewed between them. How could someone be so serious about anything? He tried to remember Haze's game against Tomoeda, how his blood rushed through his body, coursing and searing his mind and his heart. But it wasn't the same. That was determination to prove himself, and to be there for his team. The light in Touya's eyes was something he'd never had before, a drive he'd never been able to achieve.

Inspiring.

"Ah," Hikaru reeled once he recognized the familiar voice. "So you're the one Touya was so worked up about," And, with a light tease, "_Hikaru-kun_"

"Err—" He flushed red when he saw who it was. "Misaki-chan!"

The first thing he noticed was that she had snipped her long, billowing hair for a short boy cut. If it wasn't for her boobs and angry sounding voice, he probably wouldn't have recognized her. She gave him this sort of hatred-smile, and he wasn't sure how to take it. Goodness, she didn't get over things very well, did she?

"So there's an opponent even Touya chases…" She folded her arms, and gave a bit of sigh. "I suppose you are pretty good though."

Pretty good? A little better than that.

"She's mad." Hikaru groaned, to himself clasping his hands behind his head as he wondered how Touya would fair against him now. "I'm sure we'll have a good match." Hikaru said, louder, as he smiled.

Behind them, conversation erupted again.

_Hey isn't that Touya? He's wearing the Kaio uniform!_

_I've seen him in a Go magazine before…_

_Something about him being one of the future's greatest. _

_Why isn't he here? Isn't he an insei?_

_What's he doing in an amateur tournament?_

TsuiTsui pushed through the crowd of people that had gathered at the doorway, completely forgetting he was holding Akari's wrist—if he had realized, he'd probably have blushed, immediately dropped it, and ran off to the bathroom in embarrassment—wondering what all the fuss was about. Around him, people began to chatter quietly about Touya Akira, and he had just gotten around to thinking what Touya had anything to do with a juvenile pre-high school go tournament, when he saw for himself.

"Touya is…." He gaped, suddenly overcome by a wash of desperation. Behind him, Akira peered over his shoulder. "A member of Kaio?!"

Next to him, a group of three boys had begun to chatter. "Hey…." The first one said, looking quite worried. "We're playing Kaio in the first round."

Their first board pointed a finger at the smallest. "Touya just said he was third captain."

"Third captain..." TsuiTsui frowned in thought. "Could it be….chasing Shindou…?"

"Bah." Mitani, contrary to the rest of the people gathered, didn't seem a bit phased by the appearance of the legendary Akira Touya. "So you guys are Kaio." He sniffed, looking entirely uninterested.

"I heard you were strong, but didn't you lose to Haze last time?" Mitani smacked another stone down onto the game he was recreating. The girl he spoke to gave him a strange look.

"And who are you?"

"Haze's Mitani." He answered flippantly. "Kaio and Haze will meet in the second round."

"Oh wow," She put her hands on her hips. "How do you plan to beat Kishimoto-kun?" Mitani wondered if she was speaking of the boy in the corner who had been drawing pictures of orange-clad ninjas for the past twenty or so minutes.

"Hidaka—" A girl with a comely appearance had begun to say.

"He plans to win by cheating." TsuiTsui said softly, so only Akari could hear.

"He wouldn't do that!" Akari protested, but in reality, she didn't know if that was the truth or not.

"TsuiTsui-san," Hikaru began admonishingly, but was cut off by Misaki.

"TsuiTsui?" She began questioningly. "Oh, the kid that beat us last time by pure luck."

TsuiTsui flushed angrily.

"Senpai sure was upset to lose by such a mistake." She began with a cheery smile. "Win by cheating, win by luck, haze sure has some incredible members."

Hikaru narrowed his eyes.

"Mitani-kun?" She giggled. "You're just a first year who's the captain because of strategy, right?"

"What?!" Mitani slammed his hand down.

"What strategy!?" TsuiTsui cut in. "Mitani is a first year, but he's ten times stronger than me." And he turned towards Misaki as he said, "Mitani is our true captain. You'll see when you play. Don't underestimate him!"

Hidaka narrowed her eyes and looked like she was about to say something, when an older boy with glasses and a stern face walked up to the commotion. Hikaru immediately noticed his straight-laced attitude—he must be Kai's first board. The whole team seemed biased towards Haze. Not that Hikaru couldn't find a reason, they had beaten them last time and were probably impartial due to some sort of warped version of revenge. So this whole ordeal was partially his fault anyway.

"Hello." The boy came up to them. "I'm Kaio's captain, Kishimoto. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand patiently, waiting for Mitani to shake it.

When he did, he began again, "I'll be looking forward to playing you in the second round. Let's have a great time."

He seemed to be a decent guy, and Mitani didn't know how to rebuke such an honest request. Hidaka smirked over her shoulder, the dark haired girl meekly following her. "Yeah, try making it to the second round. Then we'll see."

Hikaru inwardly fumed as he watched their retreat, Kaio was just full of stuck up fools who didn't know much of anything past their rich households—their soccer team was testimony to this—and Hidaka was just being a bitch to get back at him. She struck him as the kind of person that would. Honestly, what was she doing going out with a kid like him, anyway? Mitani sat down next to him quietly, looking a bit subdued as he mulled over what the Kaio captain had said to him. The man had struck him awkwardly, via a passage not many people used. Manners. Yuuki was more used to grimy, seedy old men scheming for his money rather than polite and honest motives. TsuiTsui, on the other hand, didn't know whether to be angered or solemn.

Their first game against Iwana wasn't much trouble.

Hikaru didn't pay it any attention, simply enjoying holding the stone between his fingers. Each time he elegantly picked up a stone, was like listening to his favorite band on a rainy day. An indescribable, but simply enjoyable motion.

The boy resigned half way through, and he decided to take his lunch break early, suddenly infinitely grateful that Akari was here, now that he knew of the delicious bento she had brought. He near skipped out of the silent room of go players, hoping to catch Akari somewhere and delighted at the thought of one of her home cooked meals. It was nice to simply stretch his legs too, he wasn't quite used to having to stay in one position for such a vast amount of time as twenty-five minutes. He wondered how people like Touya and Yongha could do it, sitting around in a room on their _knees _for such a long period of time. Professionals were probably killer at it, basking in complete stillness, nothing disturbing their go.

If he became pro, he'd have to do that too, Hikaru mused. And then wanted to laugh aloud. What a pathetic excuse for finding a negative aspect of becoming a professional.

As he leaned against the balcony, he groaned. Why did Yongha have to place the seed into his mind?

Not as if it mattered anyway. Regardless of who had done it, the remark would have surfaced eventually.

"What is it, Kishimoto-san?"

Hikaru stiffened once he heard Misaki's voice, and immediately pressed himself closer to the pillow in a desperate hope that she wouldn't notice him.

"Is it about Touya being bullied?" Kishimoto captain asked.

Hikaru had already been aware of this, but the thought only proved to further his guilt trip. His selfishness to play Touya only in Tournaments had caused this. If he had simply went to the other boy's salon, Touya would be satisfied and wouldn't have to chase Hikaru around in order to have another game with the Go genius. But there was a feeling that Hikaru simply couldn't describe when he felt the intensity of their games. So deep and true, ringing louder than his alarm on a sunny Monday morning and calling to him as if it had done so for every day of his life, and only now did he suddenly begin to hear it.

And it scared him, deeply, and irrevocably.

And maybe a small part of him was holding off from playing Touya because he, was not only scared of that intensity, but scared of what path it may lead him to.

After the two had left, Hikaru sat down ion the stairs in the sunshine, watching his toes with morbid interest , elbows leaning casually on the stairs above him. Touya's love for the game knew no boundaries, going as far as disregarding the bullying o f the Kaio team for his one chance to play Hikaru, even fighting to be third board. And yet, here Hikaru was, completely, blissfully, unaware of the hardships of wanting to do something you loved and actually having to work for it.

He studied the back of his hands, nails hardly worn done and fingers still a bit chubby from lack of use in delicate procedures, say, like, holding Go stones.

It was there, in that sunshine, that Hikaru realized that he wanted something to drive him forward.

Something that could define him.

And that was Go.

"Hikaru-kun!"

He turned around immediately, to see Akari at the bottom of the stairs, holding a polka-dot bag in the vague shape of a box, smiling up at him. "There you are! I've been looking for you?" And, with a wide smile as if she already knew what his next reaction would be. "I've got your lunch! Chicken miso ramen!"

Like clockwork, a large smile formed on his face, as he bounded down to her. "Akari-chan, have I ever told you you're the best?"

He took the box gratefully, already sitting to begin to eat. She stood still, hands on her hips, a delighted, cat-like visage upon her as she smirked a bit. "Yeah, maybe once or twice. I like hearing that though, I think if you called me that more often I'd certainly be obliged to cook you more food!"

"Deal." He said between a mouthful of noodles, and she gaped when she noticed half of the bento mysteriously missing. He held out his pinky for her to shake, and she blushed once she realized the significance. They had been using the pinky shake ever since they had met in their neighborhood park, conniving against a stubborn group of boys to takeover the sand box. 'A promise,' Hikaru had told her triumphantly, as they were contented building their sand castles. 'to always be friends.'

Gratefully, she held out her own, nail colored pink with white polka dots and looking strange against his actually normal looking one.

"Deal." She mimicked, and gripped his finger until he nearly choked.

He came back into the room with a full stomach, an aching pinky, a pacified smile, and a new direction.

"Shindou-kun," TsuiTsui began as they sat down. "With Kaio as our goal, we've come this far. It's alright if we lose, let's give it our all. After all, we also have Mitani!"

"Umm, I'll try my best." Hikaru said, not knowing how else to respond to that. TsuiTsui had such faith in him. It was strange, no one had ever done that off of the soccer field, and…it was—dare he say, nice?

Hikaru broke out of his musings when the chair across from his was pulled out, and Touya sat in front of him. This time, when he met those bright eyes with their piercing and burning gaze, he didn't flinch, but held his own. This time, he wasn't afraid of the boy's sharp look, unsure of how to respond when he'd never had that sort of profound determination for anything, and instead met them with a deep understanding.

"Please begin." Said the instructor.

"You're black." TsuiTsui whispered to him. "And so is Mitani."

"Please,"

"Please,"

"Plea—" The three said in unison, Hikaru's voice dying off as Touya cut him off.

"Finally," His voice was deceptively calm. "I finally get to play you again."

_He sure has confidence, _ Hikaru noted to himself, _even though he got crushed in our last game_.

The lid of the go ke slid out of his hand and clattered to the floor. Or maybe not.

Whether he was anxious due to nerves, or because he was finally getting his chance to play Hikaru again, Touya didn't know.

"Please."

He began the game with the upper right sumi, Touya immediately responding, having waited for this game for so long he couldn't help but play quickly.

The game continued its fast pace, Touya slamming down the stones, and Hikaru wavering in his passion, his go steady but his emotions uncontrolled. How could anyone be so…resolute? He thought back to the people he had met, Yongha—who hid his profound love for the game underneath a façade of indifference—Touya, the Meijin, TsuiTsui, all of them eager to play Go. Where did his level of intensity match up to theirs?

Playing against Yongha was fun, but playing against Touya was a different level entirely.

It was special, and poignant in its rarities. He knew he could play the other boy anytime, seeing as thought the dark-haired Meijin's son was usually at his father's go salon. But for some reason, he wanted to play the other boy in legitimate matches…the electricity between them stirred quicker, and made his blood rush. As if he was remembering something gravely important each time it happened.

Playing Touya was like…finding something he had been missing, for a long, long time.

/_one thousand years/_

The other boy had grown indefinitely, and he was greatly surprised.

15-4, 5-17, the game continued, Hikaru watching Touya's serious eyes as he continued their game. Those eyes which inspired him so greatly.

A lull came into the game, as he debated which move to play. His instincts—the ones that had defined each and ever move he played, which represented the game as a universe full of swirling stars, and he knew only by the motions within him where to play the stone—told him 13-14, yet his conscious told him 11-8.

He debated with himself silently, the problem transcending simply where to place the stone, but what the divide in his conscious meant. On one side, he felt 11-8 was a perfectly good idea, and yet on the other, the spot nestled between the lines of black and white, unnamed and nothing but a fleeting instinct, seemed like a good idea as well. What was with this warring between the two sides of his consciousness? And when had it come about?

"Have I grown a bit?" Touya asked, apparently taking his silence for confusion about the game, and not about his own psyche.

"You've changed too." The aspiring go prodigy said.

"Huh?" Hikaru looked up, not expecting the other boy to say anything else.

"You hold the stones better." Touya elaborated.

"Holding the stones?" He thought, and remembered his very first go game. He wasn't sure what had made him step into that salon that day, simply feeling a pull to the small dots of black and white on the salon's sign. He hadn't even known the proper way to hold stones, and he thought back to how he immaturely placed them on the board between his forefinger and thumb.

Perhaps it was the light in Touya's eyes, or Hikaru's resolve to carry the same intensity as Touya that led him to play the move that he felt was right in his conscious, and not in his heart.

That seemed to catch the other boy by surprise, his eyes softening into confusion, before recovering quickly to play another move. The two erupted into a flurry of quick set hands, Hikaru ignoring his instinct and trusting his mind. He knew his playing was erratic and senseless, but there was a thrill from playing Touya mind to mind.

_This surprises me, but… _Akira drifted off in his trail of thought, mind transitioning into a set of future moves Hikaru might be pursuing, and moving from words to images, before returning again. _This is just…or is there something else?_

Curiously, the prodigy played on, wondering where Hikaru may be going with this. His hands were strong, but unsure. As if he played with two different kinds of hands. One, excellent, but mindless, and the other, unsure, but thought out.

Hikaru continued on, lessening his vast lead until it near diminished completely, and probably would not have stopped, until Touya abruptly stood up.

"Stop messing around!"

Hikaru looked up at him with widened eyes, stone dropping from his fingers.

The room went silent as the other players turned to watch the genius in his uncommon, erratic behavior. The Kaio instructor came over to placate him, Touya gaining his breath and sitting down once more. But this struck a chord inside Hikaru.

Could his go really effect people in such a way?

"_You're a gift, Hikaru. A gift to the Go world."_

When he opened his eyes once more, he knew what to do.

The game was vivid, but quick. Hikaru had decided that, in this instance, his heart was probably more correct than his mind. And even though when he played with his heart he didn't know the names of the places he put the stones down, how many points it would give him, or how much territory he gained, but he could feel the flow as clearly as the way to make Akari smile, or TsuiTsui laugh.

And maybe, that was all he needed.

"I…" Touya struggled for the words, looking more conflicted then he ever been. Shindou…could so easily maneuver his emotions in whatever way he wanted. And even after his pathetic dawdling in the middle of the game, he had overcome him. "I have lost."

Hikaru looked at him suddenly, as if he clearly hadn't read the game far enough as he did. Touya noticed this with a keen eye, as Hikaru didn't even seem to notice that the lead was inevitably his, and only did once he glanced down. "Oh…thank you for the game."

"Why?" He asked quietly.

Hikaru didn't need him to explain any further, Touya was speaking of his abysmal change of hand in the middle of the game.

What was he supposed to say?

"I—" Hikaru gulped, looking away, "I was unsure of myself."

Touya seemed to take this as a partial answer, biting his lip to keep from saying something he might later regret. Hikaru was enigmatic and elusive, walking into the salon on an ordinary day and morphing his world. The game, regardless of the falter in the middle, still showed how much he had to grow until he could measure up to the towering wall that stood before him.

"Thank you, Touya." He began sincerely, the other boy looking up then, confused at the sudden conviction in Hikaru's voice. "You've cleared something up for me."

The boy blinked big azure eyes at him. "U—Uh…?"

"I'm going to," Green eyes met blue, and for a moment so marginal that when Akira reflected on this imminent moment, he would second guess his eyes, but ocean met sky, infinity to infinity. Blue to blue. "Take the pro exam this year."

Akira's mouth dropped open.

Words could hardly even describe the eruption of happiness.

"You are? "He nearly stood, if not for the memory of last time he had. Yun-sensei wouldn't enjoy him disrupting the others. He lowered his voice, carrying an excited quality. "Really?"

Hikaru wasn't sure what to do in the face of the other boy's joy. Yongha was right. His go was a gift, and perhaps it was time to except that.

"Yup." He smiled, feeling happy for making Touya happy. "I am."

Questions rose to the back of his throat at once, and for many moments with the feather-light click of Go stones around them, Touya didn't know what to say, how to even form his emotions into words. "What made you change your mind?" He decided upon, finally.

Hikaru gave a noncommittal shrug, but his smile didn't waver. "I decided that I want to be serious about something." He grinned wider. "Seeing you all intense about this game, well, I didn't really get it at first. I mean, I've never been serious about anything before. But seeing you have such determination," Incarnadine brushed his cheeks. "I guess it inspired me a little."

Subdued, Touya leaned back in his chair. His will to overcome his father, to become the best, had inspired Hikaru to play go as well?

"I—I…" Touya wasn't sure how to respond.

And he smiled.

"I'm glad."

The tournament ended soon after, Haze losing to Kaio in the second round, their only win coming from Hikaru. The boy wasn't upset in the slightest, however. And Touya didn't seem to be, either. The aspiring pro had been chatting excitedly, smiling and looking generally more approachable than usual. Or that's what Akari commented, anyhow. Hikaru had to make sure to send a text to Yongha, knowing the Korean would no doubt be just as delighted.

"So we can play at the salon before the preliminaries," Touya was saying as they walked out. "And after that—

"Uh, slow down." He interrupted. "I don't even know when they are."

"Four months and a week."

Of course, Touya would get it memorized.

"I'll be sure to be there!" He grinned. "But for now, can we please just get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Hikaru-kun!" Akari called from behind them. "I just fed you!"

"Bah!" The blond began crossly. "As if one meager bowl could satisfy me!"

Touya had a feeling the greater part of Hikaru's life revolved around ramen. Shindou was still vague as ever, answering most of his questions—especially those regarding his prowess—with easy going, elusive answers that weren't really answering much of anything. He figured that, one of these days, he'd get around to getting a true answer. For now, he was happy that Hikaru was even taking the exam.

* * *

_So i was thinking of ending it here, but then I realized I wanted to write the rest of this. So maybe not. Reviews?_


	4. memories in the sea

_Merry xmas? And if you don't celebrate, merry whatever you do!

* * *

_

"Pass!"

Five seconds later and Hikaru was driving up the field, the defense men hot on his tail. Ten seconds, and he'd gotten past the central and made an instep drive into the corner of the goal.

The other forwards swarmed him with ecstatic shoulder clapping, ruffling his hair and saying how awesome the new first year was. Sometimes, he was happy to just be the only first year to make it onto the varsity team. It wasn't common, but it had happened a couple times, with especially talented kids. But Hikaru didn't think himself talented in soccer, it was just a genetic kind of thing. His father had played college when he went overseas to America, and his grandfather had taken it up as a hobby back when he was a kid. Add a couple hundred soccer camps and conditioning camps and there he was, first year playing with guys like Tsukasa, who were regularly scouted for some of the most intense club teams.

"See that dude over there? The creepy looking one who keeps talking on his phone?" Ryuu nudged his shoulder, with a slight tilt of the head to the man standing at the corner of the field, eying up the kids on both of the teams.

Hikaru shrugged. "What about him?"

"W—What about him?!" Ryuu sputtered. "He's scouting for KIA! They're this exclusive club team that feeds into the German league. Pretty cool right? A guy like that could get you into the pros."

Perhaps a long time ago, this would have salivated him and made him dream of making it into the world cup, getting his team a win and hearing his country cry in joy, with him standing in the middle of the field, teammates letting him streak the field with the trophy because he had gotten so many goals. Of course, the camera would take a spectacular upshot of him running with the gold in hand.

But now, there was only a fleeting tug, before it disappeared completely.

"That's cool." He answered finally as he quickened his pace to his bag, looking uninterested.

Ryuu gaped. "It's _way_ better than cool!"

Hikaru didn't answer, as the second-year sighed something about inconsiderate kids before retreating to his own bag. Taro slumped down next to him, looking beat as he hung his head between his knees, silvery hair overshadowing his face. As their main defender, the pressure was almost always on him when the other team scored a goal.

The blonde spared him a questioning look, before delighting in dousing his face in one of his spare, icy cold water bottles.

"Yo Rookie."

He looked up suddenly, turning his head backwards to see a figure standing in front of the sun. Tsukasa was grinning at him, but it was hard to make out his face against the harsh rays of sunbeam behind him. The captain had only ever singled him out once, usually opting to be fair and rotate the roster accordingly instead of keeping Hikaru in as long as possible, like the Coach usually wanted. It wasn't as if the two had ever talked, either. Of course, some communication was needed, seeing as though the two were vying for the spot of the teams top striker, along with Tachibana, and scoring goals always came before in-team competition. But aside from that, Hikaru usually left too fast for anyone to talk to him.

"Yeah?" He answered hastily, realizing he hadn't said anything for quite some time.

Whatever he had expected—be it constructive criticism or downright smack talk, neither of it came. The boy gave a lopsided grin. "Good job out there. It was nice playing with you."

He blinked in surprise, before matching the other boy's smile. "Yeah! You too!"

Hikaru watched as Tsukasa and Tachibana spoke to each other as they left the field, and Hikaru remembered distinctly that this was the last game of the season. They had a pretty clean record, only one loss against Fukiyama. Hikaru was overall pleased with himself; he usually scored at least one goal, but if he didn't, then he was sure to assist someone else.

And even though around him, the players were either hyped for the rest of summer break or bummed for their last year, all he could think of was the future.

And the pro exam.

He hadn't had the time to take Touya up on his idea for their summer—which was go, go, and more go—claiming he had practice and conditioning, not to mention studying for next term in a futile hope to keep his grades up, as well as getting in shape for track, which he was being forced to do by the coach.

In reality, Hikaru was sure that there was at least one day the whole summer he could have gone and played the other boy.

But the real issue was, that Hikaru didn't know if he even wanted to.

One step at a time, Hikaru mused as he shouldered his bag and began to walk home. The field wasn't too far from his house, anyway. He had just made the decision to become a pro, which would become a full time career. It was a decision he had made spur of the moment—faced down with this unwavering intensity he had never seen before—but he didn't regret the choice.

Even if he was a little scared of what in entailed.

'I'm home!" He called out, but the house was empty.

He was a little upset his parents couldn't make it to the last game of the season, but there was always next year. Even though he didn't have the slightest idea how he was going to balance school, go, soccer, and even track. He wanted to groan. How did he get himself into this mess?!

And then, he remembered that shiny new computer on his desk and life got a little better.

"At least this way," He grinned to himself, dropping his duffel bag at the foot of his bed and pulling the laptop onto his spot on his windowsill. "I won't be too out of practice for the pro exams!"

He supposed go was a bit like soccer in that way. It wasn't something that one could just pick up and hold within. It had to be practiced intensely, every day, for the ability to grow better.

_Touya said I was really good though,_ he thought to himself,_ maybe I can get even better!_

He turned the power on, waiting for the large thing to boot. It was pretty bulky and weighed heavily on his legs, but at least it was portable. His dad worked for the company that made it, so they got a discount. And his parents were so ecstatic at his grades he figured they would have bought him one regardless. Who knew that the quickest way to getting what you want was getting good grades?

"Let's see..." He began to type slowly, suddenly thankful for finally paying attention in his English class. ".net. I think...."

The screen loaded slowly, and for a minute, Hikaru thought the router wasn't plugged in. Having a computer was hard work, he had to learn what all the little symbols meant and how to get what he wanted out of it. The hardest trouble was getting to the internet, the user interface took care of the rest usually. But sometimes the router was unplugged when his mom cleaned his dad's study, or sometimes he didn't have his wireless device in, or he didn't have the right password, or his dad had blocked the site...it was all so confusing!

But go, go was straight forward. Hopefully it would be the same on the internet.

"Eh?" Hikaru blinked once he read the screen. "Username?"

As he thought about it, his mother called him down.

"What is it?" He shouted back.

His mother said something muffled by his closed door, and he gently laid the computer on the bed before racing down the stairs to see what she wanted. The schedule for the pro exams had come in, and his mother was wondering what he was up to. What was he supposed to say? Yeah mom, I'm going to take the pro exam, and become a professional go player. I know I've never shown any interest in go before, but this other kid got me into it, and now I want to do it for the rest of my life.

The two of them hardly took him seriously when he said what clubs he wanted to join, how would they have taken his career choice?

"Go?" She frowned at it, already looking unamused.

"Mom!" He shouted, grabbing the paper before she could scorn it further. "I just want to try it." he began with little honesty. "Not many people make it in anyway, only three each year, and I figured I could at least try."

His mother didn't seem to hear much of what he said, besides the 'three a year' and seemed a bit placated by the information. He wondered what she would say if he told her that he was fairly sure he'd pass and actually win a few titles in a couple years. He decided he wouldn't, and would let his mom carry on triumphantly for the time being.

"As long as your grades stay up." His mother coaxed warningly. "Anything below a B and you'll be pulled right out of that."

He gave her a mock salute. "Of course!" And inwardly gritted his teeth. Did she expect him to be some sort of genius?! How was he going to balance all this?

As he was about to turn back and head to his computer, the doorbell rang. He looked to his mother, who had turned on the vacuum in the other room. With a sigh, he doubled back down the stairs to open the door.

"Yeah—"He blinked. "Oh, Akari!"

She smiled at him prettily, holding out a box of chocolates. He took it gingerly, about to ask what it was for when she grinned at him. "For such a great season! And for being rookie of the year!"

He laughed sheepishly. He had almost completely forgotten about soccer. "Thanks, Akari." He said, sincerely, if not a bit hastily, hoping to get back to his computer.

But she didn't let him do any such thing. With a tilt of her head, she asked him, "Do you wanna hang out today?"

It had been a while since it had been just the two of them. What with Hikaru being perpetually grounded for most of last year and this year his strange warped first love with Hidaka, and then with all his soccer practices and games and the Go Club, he had a lot going on and they just didn't have the time to hang out anymore. But Summer meant no go club, and no soccer to have prior arrangements for, which left him duty free for a few weeks and he supposed the least he could do is attempt to spend some time with his longest friend.

"Sure." He sighed, figuring he might as well resign to his fate.

If anything, she became more exuberant. "Great! Let's go to the pool!"

"Eh?" He groaned. "I don't have anything to swim in!"

She blinked at that, before turning around and pushing him back into the house. "Well hurry up then!" She called from the bottom of the stairs as he trudged up them, converting back to her usual bossy self. How anyone would ever want to get married to such a bossy girl he'd never know. If he wasn't so tired right now he probably would have made some sort of comment about that, diving the two back into their usual banter about how he was too lazy and she was too bossy.

Hikaru hadn't been to the pool in maybe two years. Counting this year, anyhow. Last summer he'd been grounded for the whole thing, being shipped off to his grandfather's house. The summer before that he had soccer camps and conditioning and didn't have the time.

The water was sparkling and reflecting the light and it almost made his eyes hurt. Immediately, Akari plopped onto one of the plastic chairs and spread out her towel, already beginning to lather her pale skin with suntanning lotion. He dropped his bag on the chair next to hers, and gave her a skewered glare.

"Really? You brought me all the way here so you could tan?" He near hissed, looking more angered by the second.

She only smiled at him brightly. "I'll be done soon! Then we can do laps! I'm thinking of joining the swim team next year, and I could sure use the practice!"

Instead of making some sort of indignant comment, Hikaru turned around and strode over to the deep end, figuring he might as well try some of those flips he used to be able to do.

Something about the water made him uneasy though, and he wondered why he the water made this depressing feeling as he watched the small waves ripple across the surface. The deepest part of the pool was nine feet, and the little kids were usually too afraid to venture farther than the six foot line and strayed closer to the more shallow parts of the pool. It was near silent at this end, the only sounds coming from the lap pool where swimmers practiced their freestyle and backstrokes.

He climbed onto the board warily, wondering what this feeling was.

Hikaru was near born for the water, and had learned to swim early and him and Akari used to come to the pool often when they were younger. When he was ten or so, he had jumped straight into the deepest part of the pool, causing his mom to shriek and alert every life guard on duty, which had been a moot point when he resurfaced easily and swam to where he could stand. So it wasn't as if he didn't know how to swim, yet the knowledge did nothing to keep the worried feeling at bay.

Instead of doing the sane thing, which would have been to contemplate this further, trust his instinct, and walk off the board and get into the pool via the ladders at the four foot line where he could stand and ease himself into practice, he instead stood at the tip of the board and readied himself for the dive.

With perfection, he slammed into the water and suddenly felt as if he was immediately suffocating, and couldn't fight to break the surface.

No, that was inaccurate, it was as if he didn't _want _to come back up. He wanted to float in his sorrow forever...

He sunk lower and lower, until he had made it to the bottom, where he sat there in the deepest silence, watching the light refract from the waves above him. There was nothing around him, yet he felt as if there were long strands of kelp that made their way from the rocky bed of the river, their tangled hands stretching to the sky above them, to where the sun slid from the choppy surface of the river.

There were long, thin strands of purple around him, floating skywards and curling with the current, and he vividly remembered his recurring dream. The wisps of purple lines, smoky, abstract green hands stretching to the sun, and a broken looking sky, deep orange spots speckling it.

This was his dream, he realized.

The purple was his hair, long and flowing, as he descended lower and lower until he was one with the rocks, the green was the plants that pulled to the sun, and the sky lay unbroken past the choppy surface of the water, red water lilies causing blossoms of fiery orange on the water's edge.

Everything clicked, and just as Akari dived into the pool to drag him out, he mouthed the words that the picture made;

_Sai_

–

-(the end of summer)

-

_Sai: I'm strong, aren't I?_

_Zelda: Who are you??_

Hikaru exited out of the after game chat window without answering, humming in thought. Zelda was good, nowhere near as good as Touya or Yongha (he'd begun to categorize people as either close to Touya, or not close to Touya) but better then anyone he'd played at the Haze go club.

He watched the online list grow amusingly, wondering who to play next. Sometimes, he'd log off of his Sai account and change names, to try and grow his other style of playing. He decided to give his mind a rest though, the skill between what he called his 'heart' and his mind were so vastly different it didn't seem like it was worth the effort to try to raise both of their skill levels.

Not that his skill level needed to be raised.

_Kimi ga ima, boku wo sasete—_

He leapt from his bed and swatted on his desk for the phone that was ringing. Luckily, he was also to finally knock it off from his spot on his stomach on the floor with one fell swoop and it clattered next to him. He opened it hurriedly, once he realized it wasn't the text from Yongha he had thought it was.

"Yo!" He greeted.

"_Shindou_." Said Mitani. "_How's your summer?_"

"Good! How about you?" He answered breezily, entering another game.

"_It's alright I guess. I'm stuck with my sister at some internet cafe she works at because my parents so don't trust me to stay out of trouble at home_."

Three hands in and Hikaru knew this game wouldn't last long. "I know the feeling." He sighed empathetically, clearly remembering the days when his parents shipped him off to his grandfathers whenever they weren't home—right after he got the point on his record.

"_Shindou, by any chance are you playing netgo_?" There was subdued interest in the redhead's voice.

Hikaru grinned. "As a matter of fact, I am. Why?"

"_Is your username Sai?_"

"Eh?" Hikaru blinked. Ten hands in, and his opponent was overwhelmed. "How could you tell so easily?"

"_I know your style_."

"I guess that makes sense. Hey, you have a username?"

"_Yeah. It's Yuuki. Want to play a game?_"

"I was just about to ask you that." Hikaru's grin turned feral. Online, Fujisawa Loser resigned. He exited out before the player could initiate contact. He scrolled down until he found Mitani's username, before saying into the phone, "I'll talk later, okay?"

But Mitani had already hung up.

The game was more interesting then the ones he'd been playing all day. Mitani certainly had gotten better, and it seemed as if he had been playing Go online for some time to be able to do that. Much like Hikaru had been this whole summer.

The blonde played a few cutthroat hands, before it was clear who the winner was going to be.

Mitani resigned twenty minutes later, and Hikaru eyed the watch list as it near doubled in size. He wondered who all these people from around the world even were. He hoped they all loved go as much as he did, at least.

_Yuuki: You've gotten better_

Hikaru grinned.

_Sai: So have you_

_Yuuki: Next time we play, I'll win._

_Sai: Looking forward to it! :P_

Yuuki left then, and Hikaru exited out of the chat window and was nearly bombarded by requests to play. Startled at the near virus spring of windows, he decided it would be better to turn his status to 'idle' instead of 'online' and hope it subdued the interest of some of the players. His stomach rumbled, and he looked outside. It was probably seven at night or so, and he could use some good dinner.

His phone rang again, and he grabbed it with him on the way down tot he kitchen.

It was an email from Yongha.

He was ecstatic that Hikaru had taken his suggestion and was going to take the pro exams. The Korean seemed fairly sure that he was going to pass with a perfect record, saying his skill was far beyond a normal player's skill level. He filled him in on some interesting things in Korea, Suyon apparently was taking the pro exams this year too.

Hikaru ended up not getting any sleep that night, too busy playing netgo and altogether enjoying himself, lost in the feel of the game that could entertain him for hours upon hours. For some reason, unlike anything else he'd ever held interest for, go never became stale for him. Two months worth of soccer camp and he was done. Three hours of running and he hoped he would get a wheelchair some time in the near future. But go, go was something he could dedicate every moment to, and not grow weary of it.

The more he thought of it, the less worried he became about the pro exams, and where his level of determination and drive matched with Touya's.

Akari hadn't brought him to the pool any more, deciding that he was going to drown and it would be entirely her fault and she'd have to live with killing her best friend for the rest of her life. Hikaru thought she was overreacting a bit.

He'd spent most of his summer—regrettably, sleeping. His mother was furious, saying he was wasting his life away, and his father seemed amused at his sudden introduction to the world of a slothful sofa spud, telling his wife that Hikaru could use a week or two without stress. What they didn't know, was that Hikaru didn't sleep his days away from exhaustion over the year or because he was lazy. He did so to piece together the messages in his dreams.

Akari and he had been to a bookstore a couple days back—seeing as though the girl was too worried about him dying in the pool to bring him back there, they had to come up with a new way to spend their Monday mornings—and he had purchased a blank notebook. Akari teased that he would be one of those old stuffy critique writers for crappy magazines pretty soon, but he shook her off.

The book, at the moment, was scrawled through with vivid images he could recall from his dreams, like the fiery red of the flowers, the water, the drowning. So far, he'd uncovered his name.

Fujiwara Sai.

He'd drowned, Hikaru was fairly sure the reason had something to do with go. How death and go had anything to do with each other, he wasn't very sure. Being killed because of go just didn't seem like a logical explanation. The game was too peaceful to cause such a reaction.

_Great, _he thought to himself. _I know that his name was Fujiwara Sai. He died. What does this have anything to do with me? _

"Hikaru!" His mother called sharply. "Are you awake yet?"

"EH!?"

He checked the clock on the bottom of his computer. It was already morning. In fact, he had thirty minutes to get to the train or else he would be late for his first day of the exams.

He immediately sprinted to his closet and grabbed a green sweatshirt that hung lopsidedly off of his shelf, a big five on the front. He pulled on some jeans he found on his floor hurriedly as he darted into the bathroom across the hall, rubbing his hair with one hand as it skewed atop his head as he brushed his teeth. The blond edges curled upwards to make an altogether spectacular bed head.

"Hikaru!" His mother called again, sternly, as he trudged down the stairs.

She stood a the base of the steps with one hand on her hips, the duster in one palm, hair tied back with cloth and her cleaning apron on.

He huffed as he walked by her "Don't worry mom!" He scowled as he entered the kitchen. "I won't be late!" He stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth to hold it, the other rifling through the refrigerator to grab the homemade bento Akari had made for him the day before.

His mother huffed. "Well you never know with public transportation."

"Sure you do." He retorted, slipping into his battered kicks, before turning with a wave. "The trains always five minutes late!"

"_You're_ going to be five minutes late!" She shot back, before he took off at an alarming rate down the road.

She watched him go with a hand to her cheek, as he speeded past the houses and rounded the corner faster than she ever believed he could be. Perhaps all those years of soccer and conditioning had amounted to something after all. At the rate he was going he'd make it to the station with enough time to buy a breakfast and read the paper. And perhaps he was old enough to decide when to leave the house without her having to call him to.

Her boy was growing up.

–

–

"So you think he's a kid?" Fuku asked Waya, as they toed off their shoes before placing them in the cubbyholes.

Waya glowered. "I'm positive. Did you see what he said to me? He said—

"I'm strong, aren't I?" Nase cut in, as she walked up to them from inside, shoes already off. "You've told us this so many times already, Waya."

"And what about what he said to that _Yuuki _guy, huh? He sounded like a kid then, too." Waya said pointedly.

Nase shrugged. "What does it matter? If he's here, we'll know. If he isn't, then we'll check that amateur tournament. Okay?"

Waya grumbled, but said nothing else.

The three made their way into the preliminary rooms, and sat down accordingly. He eyed the people as they filed in, knowing this was the year Touya Akira was going tot take the exam. What would the boy look like, though? He'd seen him once or twice in blurry unmemorable pictures in magazines, but mostly only heard of him. By the time the room had made it to full capacity, Waya hadn't even been paying attention, too busy staring down his first opponent to carefully inspect every single person who came in.

"Where have you been?" Touya asked with bite, as Hikaru quickly stumbled into the room alongside him.

Hikaru rubbed his head sheepishly. "I was hungry?"

"Hungry." The young prodigy repeated flatly.

Hikaru and him said nothing else, splitting their separate ways as they took their seats across from their opponents. Touya's was a small, frightened looking boy, who looked as if he was normally easy-going but when he realized who's name was next to his, had lost his nerves. Touya sighed, there wouldn't be any real danger of losing at least, he supposed, but in exchange for the challenge.

By the time the sensei had announced it was lunch break, he was already breaking ahead and was currently leading by a great deal. It would be in the boy's best interest to resign after the break.

He caught up to Shindou, who was making his way to his bag. He pulled out the book he had brought to read, figuring that Shindou—from his perpetual frown—wasn't in a good mood at the moment and probably didn't want to talk about their games. Perhaps he was losing? Akira shook his head as the two sat down opposite of a scowling red head and the boy he was playing with. Shindou wouldn't lose to anyone here, he was too strong.

Waya's glowering deepened as he drummed his fingers on the wood of the table.

"Waya-kun?"

He turned when he heard Fuku calling his voice.

"H—Huh?"

"What are you thinking about?" The younger boy must have been motioning to his the scowl marring his facial expression. "Did you make a mistake in the game?"

"No I didn't." He rolled his eyes. Fuku could be so stupid. "Shut up."

He sat with his hands cradling his head, propped up with his elbows, wondering why he was getting frustrated over Sai still. Who was he? Why didn't he answer when he asked? Was he a kid? A professional? An amateur? Someone in this room?

Next to Touya, Hikaru sneezed.

His mood had increased ten fold once he opened Akari's bento, the delicious smell mouth watering. In his happiness he rubbed the side of it against his cheek.

"You look happy." Touya surmised with mirth, as Hikaru's grin increased.

"Ramen is the food for the gods..." He sighed dreamily. "But Akari's bento's...well, they're like the god's favorite food."

"That doesn't make much sense." He said lightly, but Hikaru didn't seem to care.

Waya blinked suddenly,studying the boy across from him in a new light.

"Touya Akira......?" Said the boy across from him.

"Yes?" Touya blinked, looking up from his book with a confused face.

Around them, people began to chatter about him. Apparently, no one had realized what he looked like.

Touya blushed.

Waya glared.

Fuku sipped his drink.

And Hikaru continued to rub his face against his bento, unaware of the commotion Touya's presence was causing.

The mouse-like boy shrugged. "I knew it was Touya."

Waya swiveled to see the boy beside him. "Why?"

"I'm playing him today. He's dominating me."

"How can someone trying to be a pro sound so weak?!" Waya snarled, grabbing him in a headlock. Fuku bemoaned about how it was useless to resist.

Touya blinked. "Are you two insei?"

"Yup!" The little boy nodded. "This is my first year taking the exam." He motioned to the older boy next to him. "It's Waya's third."

The redheaded boy blushed. "S—Shut up Fuku!"

"Man, starting off with a loss." Fuku sighed, as he leaned back on his elbows. "That's not a good way to start it off."

"Don't say that!" Waya interrupted hotly, pointing an accusing finger at Touya. "Come from behind against this guy!"

Fuku frowned. "Waya, you're too upset today. What happened?"

Waya propped his elbows up, a contrary look on his face. "Yesterday I was playing on the internet against a really strong guy. That strength was definitely that of a pro...and then... he says, 'I'm strong, aren't I?' It made me so mad."

"That doesn't sound like something a pro would say." Akira interrupted.

Waya scowled. "No one was talking to you!"

Next to Touya, Hikaru near regurgitated his sushi as he choked on it causing the whole table to look at him wearily. He sputtered a bit more, hunched over his food, and for a moment, Akira worried he was dying, and genuinely panicked because he didn't have the slightest idea what to do when someone was choking. The boy began to shudder, and Touya became increasingly worried, until he realized that Hikaru wasn't trembling because he was choking, but because he was laughing.

Waya seemed to notice it to, and, with a sour expression, asked, "What's so funny, huh?"

Hikaru threw his head back as he chuckled, wiping his eyes.

'I—I just..." He reverted into another bout of laughter before finishing. "Didn't think you'd get so worked up about it!"

Waya growled. "What does that mean?!"

"If I knew you'd take that so insultingly," The boy began, with a strange sort of predatory smile. "I wouldn't have said that!"

Waya gaped for a bit, as his mind pieced together what this meant.

"You—" His breath hitched.

The boy before him grinned even more, looking more and more cat like with each passing moment. It was scary, how his eyes flickered from green to bright blue in the wan spill of light from the fluorescent bulbs, watching him like a lion might watch a mouse between his paws.

"You're Sai!"

Hikaru only gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah!"

"Sai?" Touya echoed, watching Hikaru curiously.

Hikaru turned to him. "My parents got me a laptop, so I've been playing netgo recently. Sai's my name."

"Why Sai?"

Touya's question struck a nerve, but luckily, Hikaru didn't have to answer it, as Waya had already butted in once more.

"Why did you get off?!" He interrupted, leaning over the table to peer into Hikaru's eyes.

The other boy blinked innocently. "My mom called me for dinner. Sorry...I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"Big of a deal?!" Waya repeated with some tart. How could this boy not know how important this was! What skill, he possessed? It was like Shuusaku's gift combined with modern plays, an unbeatable team that no one else in the world could beat—or at least, he doubted anyone could. Maybe not even the Meijin. How could he just nonchalantly play around? Why wasn't he an insei? "Its a huge deal!" Waya elaborated. "The whole online world is obsessed with finding out who you are!"

"Really?" Hikaru wrinkled his nose. "Well don't tell anyone okay? I don't want people stalking me or anything."

Too engrossed in the fact that he had just inadvertently discovered Sai, Waya said nothing else, looking significantly subdued for the rest of the lunch break, a fact that Touya took greedily, being able to finish two more chapters in blissful silence without the redhead yelling about something or other.

When they were called back in, Touya quietly put away his book, walking over to the bag holding area with Shindou, who seemed to mourn the loss of his bento.

"You never told me you played netgo." Akira began conversationally, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.

Sure, they were rivals, but that hardly constitutes to anything when your rival hardly acknowledges your presence or ability.

Hikaru, as if reading his mind, smiled benignly. "I figured you wouldn't care. I mean...netgo is beneath you, so what would be the point in telling you I played on some site anyway?"

The boy had a point, Akira was never one for frivolous activities, like playing online just to play go, not to get better. Of course, playing go just for the sake of playing wasn't a fruitless endeavor, he just derived more interest from playing challenging games where he could learn something. Hikaru seemed to be the opposite. Not playing to learn, but because he wanted to be surrounded with people with the determination to succeed, and to perhaps gain some of this burning desire himself. It was almost as if he was doing it for someone else, becoming a pro for the sake of the go world rather then his own.

Akira didn't ponder this, taking out the small slip of paper that read his number and showing it to Hikaru as they walked back into the room.

"I'm number 7, what are you?"

The boy grinned, and gestured to his green hooded sweatshirt, which read "five" in large English letters. "Lucky number five." He grinned.

Touya nodded. "So we'll meet in a couple weeks."

"I'll be looking forward to it!" He mock saluted, as he moved back to where he was sitting.

* * *

_I cant' believe I spent the last couple of days of my existence without internet. I will never know how I did that. _


	5. breathing revelations

_:( what a horrible break this has been...

* * *

_

-

-

School started with abruptly, summer ending its smooth, unknowing course with a sudden halt, sending Hikaru tipping over into the new school year as if he had been dallying about on a moving walkway in the airport, and had completely forgotten to get off at the end. He'd be lying if he said he was even in the least bit excited for school. Rather the opposite, unlike Akari, who was pumped for the next semester, ready to start vying for the top spot as she always did with the nerds of their class.

Hikaru walked into his first class, and wanted to die.

Algebra seemed to get twice as hard as it was before the break, Hikaru nimbly passing the last term with the grades his parents wanted, and completely unable to comprehend how undoubtedly harder it would be this year. History was just as bad, sneaking up on him and biting him where he least expected it—world history. He barely even knew Japanese history, let alone the rest of the worlds. And even though he was steadily progressing through English because of his exposure through the web, he still couldn't take the class lightly. The English language had a way of changing on him, sometimes you added an 's' to the ends, and sometimes an 'es', and sometimes an 'I', or sometimes nothing at all. How was he to know which was which?

Not to mention the pro exams had started already.

Both he and Akira held perfect records for their first six games. This wouldn't hold for long, one of them would emerge clean and the other with a smudge on their record.

Touya felt it wouldn't be him—Hikaru, for all his laziness and sporadic interest in insignificant things would be able to beat him hands down.

"How was it?" Hikaru asked languidly as they stretched during lunch break. Touya was reading a Japanese translation of Sense and Sensibility, to which he encouraged Hikaru to do the same, at least to get a feel for English literature. As if. The boy next to him was too engrossed in his latest pokemon game to even look up.

Touya eyed the screen warily, as Hikaru made his was through an 8-bit forest. "Good, I suppose. It would be in my opponents best interest to resign soon."

Hikaru said nothing for a moment, deep in the battle he was currently wagering. "That's pretty cool." He said uninterestedly, probably not knowing an ounce of what he was responding too.

Touya made a small, exasperated noise in the back of his throat. The boy was a go prodigy, probably much more so then himself. He had been born into the game, into perfect accordance with this world and had never needed to learn the rules. Komi had been one of his first words, moku, his first true understanding. And go itself, the biggest existence in his life. Hikaru had only picked it up a couple years ago, playing around with his grandfather, and eventually wandering into his father's go salon and meeting him. He'd never been serious about go—and, for that matter, serious about anything—which made Akira reel in shock. Hikaru was an impossibility. It was just downright impossible for anyone to be able to simply 'pick up' go to his skill level.

He decided not to voice any of his opinions. He'd realized by now that engaging Hikaru in deep conversation about his future would only cause him to entertain the struggle of cold feet, and run away from the intensity.

"How's your game going?" He asked the boy with two-toned hair, who again, answered noncommittally.

"Great. I pretty much already won." Note; lack of enthusiasm.

"You don't seem to happy about that." Touya mused.

Hikaru's nose wrinkled, eyes never moving from the screen of his gameboy. "It's not challenging enough." And, with the most honestly, serious look, his eyes wavered from his gameboy to lock to his, and he was shocked at their bright _blue _color, stolen from the sky. "I'd rather play you."

Touya wasn't sure what to say, blinking a bit with his mouth open. Of course, he had been dying to play the other boy as well, but had opted to keep that unsaid. "I want to play you also." He answered finally. "Why don't you come to my father's salon some time? That way we can play each other, and practice some."

Hikaru smiled. "Yeah, sure!"

–

–

Ogata Seiji sighed as he closed the front door to his apartment, following the young brunette in front of him with a slightly less pace, plodding along sullenly cigarette in his mouth as the comely woman frowned at him.

Ogata had a habit of over analyzing things and picking them apart until nothing was left unturned. This was a perfect foundation for his go, which was built upon layers and layers of over thinking. However, this was also the cause of perpetual romantic failures after the three month line.

Soriyama Ume was going to be hitting that mark in a few days time, and he figured he might as well enjoy the time when it lasts. It wasn't as if the girl was too stupid, or too dull, but that she simply, like every non-go player, didn't understand the massive part of himself that was dedicated to the subject in question. She was beautiful, he admitted to himself quietly, as the boarded into his car, with bright blue eyes that were lined with dark lashes, a spray of freckles just beneath them, hair long and dark and curling at the edges as if the ends were creations of the highest salon.

She held her hands placidly in her lap, like a pair of delicate butterflies, watching the city from the window of his sleek red car.

The man certainly knew how to ride in style, she mused.

"Where are we going?" Ogata asked finally, cracking the window to let the twining hands of smoke into the open air. Ume didn't like it when he smoked.

She turned sharply to him, as if appalled he'd already forgotten. If she made a comment about that, he was going to point out that she had forgotten about his league match the other day. "My brother's soccer game." She sighed. "First of the season."

"Ah." He acknowledged without interest. And then, with a sudden cold chill. "Will your parents be there?"

Ume was a twenty-three year old girl, hardly even of age when he thought about it. He doubted her parents were keen on her dating a man almost five years her senior and a professional go player. Hardly the career choice one thinks of when they think, ''rich and famous is the only way for my beautiful daughter'.

She shook her head, relieving the tension that had whited his knuckles. "No, they're out of town, that's why I wanted to make an effort to go."

The pro shrugged. "How long?"

"An hour or so."

That wasn't too bad. He figured there were a lot worse things she could subject him to. They drove over past the city and into the suburban district area, as she directed him through picture perfect single family houses that she eyed with a keen longing that he immediately pretended he didn't see. Why was it that every women wanted to immediately start a family? And why did they always seem to look at him when they thought of that?

"It's here." She pointed to the sign that read, 'Haze Junior High'.

Ogata pulled into the parking with practiced ease, one hand on the wheel and the other hanging out the rolled down window, head leaning out to see behind him.

When they came to a stop, he noticed a sullen looking boy from his rear view mirror. He shared the same sharp cheekbones and big bright eyes, dark tousled hair and the contrary looking face when he was contemplating something deep, and looked uncannily like Ume.

"Sousuke!" She called immediately, leaping from his car to hug the boy.

The boy scowled darkly, but seemed inwardly pleased that his sister was showering him with so much attention. Ogata sighed as he exited the car, hearing it lock behind him. Typical angsting thirteen year old boy, who claimed he didn't want any attention yet inwardly yearned for it. How he hated those years.

"Ume—" The boy struggled. "Someone might see!"

She smiled brilliantly at the younger boy, and Ogata could see some of the mirth that had attracted him to her in the first place. "So, who are you playing today?"

"Kaio." The teen said sullenly, kicking a pebble on the curb. "Apparently our team crushed them last time, but that was for the spring season. Apparently most of their kids play tennis during then so now they've got all these guys who are getting back on the team who are pretty good." The boy didn't look too happy about that.

"Oh?" Ume looked puzzled. "I thought you lost to them last time..."

"E—err," Sousuke looked flustered. "I mean Varsity. JV didn't do so well against them."

"Varsity?"

At the thought of the higher team, the boy immediately brightened again, tugging his sisters hand and altogether forgetting his existence. Not that he really cared. He doubted he would be sticking around long enough to meet the rest of the family.

"You should see them play!" Sousuke said hurriedly, as he rounded the corner onto the field. "Varsity's really great this year. They've got Tachibana,"

He motioned to a silvery blur streaking down the field, three other boys keeping stride with him. He was pretty surprised, they were moving decently fast. Kaio, who he assumed from the colors they were wearing that decently matched Akira's uniform, seemed to be left behind in the dust.

"He's fast." Ume commented, wide-eyed.

Sousuke grinned. "Yeah, the guy with dark hair is the captain Tsukasa." He said with some sort of pride.

The boy, Tachibana, kicked it to Tsukasa, who drove to the goal and slammed it with the bottom of his foot, sending it swirling over one of the defenders before toppling into the ground due to the spin. The goalie was able to deflect it, however.

"And the blonde one..." He began with a harsh intake of breath, a dreamy-eyed look that reminded Ogata sorely of Akira when he was watching one of his father's more important, more spectacular games. As if watching god, as if partaking in something so beloved that his breath was ripped right away from him. "Is Shindou Hikaru. He's definitely the best."

"In your opinion?" Ume teased lightly.

Sousuke shook his head vehemently. "No he really is! He's the reason we're so good! Can you believe he made Varsity as a first year too?! He's so respected..." The boy ended with reverence.

But Ogata hadn't heard the rest of that sentence.

All he could think of was Akira's face in anguish, as he trudged past his father's study where a group had commenced to study one of the more important games of the week, this one being Kuwabara's, without even passing them a glance. When Ogata had asked him what the reason for such a scowl was, he had replied, "I met this boy at the salon. He was...on a level far beyond me. I don't even know his name."

The next time he had seen Akira, the boy was contrary in rage, looking—if he had been that kind of person—to punch the nearest wall. When Ogata asked him why he looked so troubled, he had again answered about the same boy. "I thought I could beat him...I had thought that I had simply underestimated him and that was why I lost." The young prodigy had closed his eyes. "But I was wrong. Shindou Hikaru, he is like nothing I've ever encountered before."

While Akira was young and had room to grow, he was still a formidable opponent. Anyone able to draw out such a reaction from the usually calm boy was certainly someone to keep an eye out for.

"Shindou Hikaru?" He repeated aloud, and Sousuke near jumped, as if suddenly realizing that he was even there.

"Yeah." The dark haired boy nodded, inching closer to his sister, as if he was scared of him. "He's the teams striker. Him and Tsukasa and Tachibana take turns though. They have such incredible teamwork."

As he watched the three easily pass the defenders with flighty footwork and dribble down the field at an alarming rate, the goalie sliding to keep up with them but altogether overwhelmed. Finally, the dark haired boy passed it to Shindou, who used a couple fancy moves to slam it right out of the goalie's reach. The crowd roared as the team's forwards ran up to ruffle Shindou's hair.

They couldn't possibly be the same though, the Shindou Akira spoke of, the go prodigy who was taking the pro exams this year, and the one in front of him who looked as if he'd never lived a life off of the soccer field.

The game ended pretty quickly after that, Sousuke grudgingly scuffing his feet onto the field with his teammates, looking like he was ready for a thrashing. Ume seemed completely unaware of her brother's depression, cheering loudly in a strikingly loud voice. Ogata winced, before turning away, watching the two-toned haired boy move languidly with the rest of his team, going through some of the mandatory stretches. He certainly didn't look like a go player, but seeing as though the only young go player that Ogata had ever seen recently was Akira, and perhaps Ashiwara was a far stretch from being qualified as "young" regardless of how mature he acted.

"Nice goal, Hikaru." Ryuu grinned at him, leaned completely over his left leg, from where the corner of his ankle to his knee had begun to blacken in a long line of bruises. "I doubt even Tsukasa could have gotten it."

Hikaru shrugged nonchalantly, while inwardly glowing at the praise. "Yeah, but he set me up for the shot, I should probably be thanking him."

"A pretty sick assist, if I do say so myself." The captain cut in with a grin, shaking out his limp dark hair from the icy water he had sprayed on it.

"I thought I'd be down after that charge their defender gave me," Hikaru rolled his shoulder liberally, wondering how it was still in use after he was tackled to the ground. "I kinda wish coach had taken me out now..." He drifted off pointedly, wincing as his shoulder twinged in protest to all the movement.

"Hikaru Shindou...am I right?"

Hikaru turned around quickly, not recognizing the soft, feminine voice. Next to him, Ryuu let out a low whistle, quiet enough that only he and Tsukasa heard.

Behind him, and older girl was giving him a nervous sort of questioning gaze, waiting for his reply. She had dark brown hair, almost red in coloring, cheeks flushed as if she had walked all the way over here from somewhere a fair distance away. She had her hair down against her cream colored scarf, jeans tucked into her furry boots.

"Yeah, that's me," He began with a bit of a flush, as Ryuu started chuckling under his breath. "Uh—I'm sorry, and you are?"

"Nase Asumi." The girl said with a bright smile.

"Oh, nice to meet you Nase-san," He fidgeted slightly with the bag slung across his shoulder. "But, uhm, where do I know you from again?"

She giggled a bit, and gave a little sweep of her eye to their surroundings, as if unsure if she should say what she wanted to with the present company. "I'm taking the pro exams with you this year."

Hikaru blinked, once, twice, and then—"Pro exams...the _Go_ pro exams?! _You?_ I mean—err, not like that, I just...a girl like you—I...I..." As he struggled for words, his blush deepened, and her smile grew wider and began to laugh again.

"Yeah, me." Nase smiled. "And I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and my friend Waya for a little bit. We're thinking of going to the go salon not to far from here to get some practice."

"Is that so?" Hikaru thought back. He had nothing better to do. And even though he had a paper due in World History, it wasn't like he was ever going to go very far in his education anyway, now that he was going to be a professional go player and all. "Sure I guess. Right now?"

She nodded.

"Should I change first?"

Another big smile. "You're fine the way you are!"

"Well...alright..." He wasn't sure what to say, especially to a pretty girl adamantly inviting him to tag along with her and her friend. What else was he supposed to do? He waved to Ryuu and Tsukasa, who were looking as if they wanted to crumble to the floor in laughter, sending him lewd messages with their fingers and thumbs up. He decided to ignore them completely.

Waya, he remembered a bit. They'd played the last time, with Hikaru was the winner. The boy seemed a bit miffed, but had let it slide with a, "next time, I'll win for sure!". While Hikaru didn't know how to take that, he smiled and shrugged it off—no way that was happening.

The salon was pretty fun too, the insei, while fun to play—along with the rest of the customers—weren't much of a challenge to Hikaru, but he stuck around anyway. He didn't mind if the game wasn't perfection, sometimes it was just fun to play because go was fun. It didn't always have to boil and simmer until his heart raced and his fingers heated like it did with him and Touya. And there was always something to learn from every game of go.

Or that's what he thought, at least.

"You should hang out with us more often!" Said Nase with a coy smile, hands slim and fay as they held onto the can of soda he'd bought her a few minutes prior.

Hikaru grinned. "Sure, whenever I'm free. Between school, soccer, and the pro exams, its pretty slim."

Waya rubbed the back of his head, looking pretty embarrassed as he agreed. "Yeah, I didn't expect you to be so chill. Hanging out with a guy like Touya..."

"Eh?" Hikaru looked up. "What's wrong with Touya?"

Waya looked as if he had grievously insulted him, sputtering as he near leapt back in surprise and anger. "What's wrong with him?!" He near spat. "Everything! That guy acts like he's the best and knows it, all cocky and shit." Waya growled as he finished, looking away with a pair of hardset eyes. "I'll beat him one day, and make him stop and look behind."

Hikaru blinked for a couple moments, taking the information in. Touya had struck him as someone who had been inbred into go the way he had been into soccer. While there was passion, a lot of it had to do with what their parents wanted them to do as well. Sure, he was fairly certain that Touya would play go regardless, the reason he was always looking to play more challenging players, striving to be the best, was because he wanted to beat his father. He didn't seem to intentionally sound like a braggart, he simply was good and didn't deny it. Instead of arguing the point, Hikaru only shrugged and let Waya vent. The boy was probably beaten at some point by the younger Touya and had harbored intense loathing ever since.

Hikaru watched the boy out of the corner of his eye, as he continued to rant to Nase, who only chuckled in amusement. While Hikaru wouldn't say he was a good judge of character, he knew that look in Waya's eye. He'd held it for Tachibana and Tsukasa, regardless of the competition for striker the three had been having since the start of his junior high soccer career—respect. Above all that talk, Waya knew that Touya was formidable, and that his go wouldn't be able to knock the boy a couple pegs.

–

–

–

" I can't." Hikaru insisted sympathetically, grabbing his bag that was snagged under the table. It was dark blue in color, but lately had large brown smudges that crawled up from the undersides. He needed a new duffel bag, and soon. "I have a match that day."

Touya furrowed his brows. "A match?"

Hikaru and Touya had taken to occasionally going to the latter's salon, usually playing a game or two before Hikaru had to run to some sort of athletic endeavor. Akari had joined the track team, along with—surprisingly—Mitani, the two of them dragging him along to the practices. The running around a circle, he could stand. The long meets that can last hours upon hours? The definition of torture. His legs were screaming, from not only the soccer team but the fact that whenever he had a day off from it he was out on the track field, and also, sitting on his knees all day for go certainly didn't help any either.

He had to admit, playing Touya was the brightest part of his day, just spending a few relaxing hours playing go with the other boy. Akira had grown after every game, steadily climbing towards him. The more Hikaru played him and the others in the pro exam, he began to realize just how strong he really was. The people he faced his age—and even those above his age—just weren't comparable to his skill level. As he had effectively cut through Akira's game again, he wondered just who would be his match.

Touya would certainly get there, and Hikaru, even with his meager knowledge of the mechanics of go, knew that Touya had talent.

"Yeah." He answered without really paying attention, more interested as to why he was missing a shin guard.

Touya, if anything, became more confused at that. "A match? When? Against who?"

Hikaru looked up then, wondering suddenly why Touya was so interested. He certainly never was before. "Uh, I'm not very sure. Probably Osaka." And then, with a bit of a frown. "I hope it's not. We have a perfect record right now...I really wanted to keep it that way."

"Shindou...what are you talking about?" Touya began warily, blinking. "Is this a school tournament? You know that once you signed up for the pro exams you're no longer allowed to—

"Tournament?" Hikaru echoed. "What tournament?"

Touya paused in cleaning up the go stones, if possible, descended into a state far past simple confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Err—soccer. What are _you_ talking about?"

Touya blinked. "Oh...I thought you were talking about go."

Hikaru stood in surprise for a moment, before chuckling. It was just like Touya to immediately assume he was speaking of Go. The boy had nothing but a love for the game.

"No, no, I figured it would be unfair to play in the school tournament now that I'm trying to be pro and all." A dreamy look cast onto his face, as he sighed. "I can't wait for the game. There's just a rush you get when you slide past a defender and the goalie comes out to cut the angle and then you pass him and shoot into a perfect, open goal...."

Touya cleaned up the rest of the board, Hikaru helping and cleaning black. "I wouldn't know." The go prodigy began. "I've never watched soccer, much less played it."

Hikaru closed the go ke lid calmly, before Touya's words sunk in. "What?! You've never been to a soccer game?!"

The young boy blinked, blushing. "No, never."

"How does this happen?!" Hikaru squawked, suddenly less interested in the fact he had thirty minutes to race across town and more strangled by the fact that Touya had never witnessed the beauty of an epic football game. He supposed in hindsight that he shouldn't be so surprised. The boy had been raised with go, go, and more go. And probably never held much interest for anything else. Touya didn't strike him as the athletic type, anyway. The same way he doubted he looked like the type of person to play go.

Touya didn't seem to have a legitimate answer, figuring Shindou was ranting more then he was looking for one.

"You have to go!" He began suddenly. "What are you doing today? You need to come!"

"Eh—" Touya wasn't prepared for Hikaru to suddenly grab his hand and drag him out of the salon, Ichikawa calling back to them. "W—Wait...where are we going?"

"To Haze." Hikaru smiled as he pulled him along past the crowded streets. "You're coming to my game!"

"What—why?"

Touya didn't get his answer, instead, Hikaru took a few nondescript turns through dark alleyways and ended up all the way in the school district, cutting through the parking lot and making their way to the field. Touya was a bit amazed at the turn up, there was a small mass of people on the bleachers, lounging in chairs, all loud and all _talking. _Very different from the wash of silence that accompanies Go matches, with the entire crowd awash in quiet, waiting for the next move.

Hikaru had somehow managed to pull over his number five—what was up with this boy and the number five? How did he always manage to get that number?—and was slipping his cleats on, already having his socks and shin guards and had dropped the bag next to him, a book of kifu sticking out.

Akira picked it up gingerly, reading the cover—Shuusaku's greatest plays. Shindou sure did have an obsession with the man, and he wondered a bit why. Sure, Shuusaku was an amazing player better then anyone else currently, the only one even slightly debatable of his skill being his father. And yes, even to this day it was considered a standard to be well versed in the man's kifu. But most of his playing style had gone out, and was hardly used in modern times. As he rifled through the book as Shindou tied his shoes, he mused that this would certainly explain the reason Hikaru was so fond of the Shuusaku diagonal.

"So why do you have this in your soccer bag?" Touya said conversationally, having grabbed it from between spare Gatorade and water.

Hikaru looked up sharply, swiping the book and stuffing it in his bag with a wary glance across the field. No one seemed to be noticing, and he sighed in relief. "It's a good luck charm, I guess." He began, a bit flustered. "My grandfather gave it to me a while ago, and I just sort of keep it in my bag. I've one every game with it in though, so it must be of some use."

Touya studied the spine of the book carefully, but altogether as if he had something different on his mind.

"Did he teach you how to play go?"

Hikaru paused, leaving the strings in his hand to fall limp without the pressure. He bit his lip and looked away, suddenly unsure of how to answer the question. Lately, Touya had been asking those sort of questions, that he hadn't really thought about. When Yongha had asked him why he was so skilled, he had answered as honestly as possible, with what little he could understand of himself. Now, to have such honesty would be to repeat his darkest secret.

"No, he didn't." Not a lie.

Touya tilted his head, dark hair falling perfectly from the side of his face. "Then who did?"

Why did he feel as if he taught himself?

No...that wasn't right. He didn't teach _himself, _he taught—

A flurry of images, of bright claret red and sunshine yellow, soft and smooth to the touch. Fabric. The coy, shy flutter of lashes above papery fans. Kimono. A perfect smile, hair tucked behind the ears. The princess. The thin, upward curving of a roseate lip, as the perfect maiden cracked a smile to him, cheeks flushing incarnadine under the pale wintry frosting covering her cheeks. Clack. Clack. Go stones on the board, the girl held her sleeve as she placed another stone. He responded with an easing demeanor. No, this game was not for winning, this game was for—

Teaching.

He taught others. He was a teacher.

_A go instructor._

Hikaru's breath hitched.

He was a go instructor.

The man in his dreams, the one who had drowned, with elegant, long silky dark hair and a chimerical voice, whose love of go was so deep that it was ingrained into his heart's every beat, who found the sound of the lute on an autumn day a euphonious sound to behold, eyes of the brightest blue like the curve of the sky behind a silvery cloud, long thin fingers that held go stones in practice ease, with the slightest curve of a smile on his face at every moment, with a childlike demeanor who was impressed with everything he saw—

That man was him.

Or,_ had _been him.

After long moments of silence, Touya had figured he'd struck a nerve, anxiously tugging at the bottom of his knit shirt as he watched Hikaru's face contort in realization. "Sorry," He began quietly. "Did I say something?"

Hikaru seemed to reel out of his musings. "No, that was my fault." And, with a forced smile. "I was just thinking of something."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." He said softly, and inwardly, _regardless of whether I __want you to or not. _

Hikaru shook his head. "No, its not that. I just don't know what to tell you. No one really taught me. I mean, sure my grandfather showed me the board and taught me the very basics. But everything else I just sort of...new instinctively. Does that make sense?"

"No." He answered, quiet frank. "It doesn't." For someone to just know how to play on instinct was unheard of. There was talent, of course, but to be able to know how to make a perfect opening move without at least learning the names of the moves, or having the ability to form plays like Hikaru did without having anything to base them upon, simply impossible.

But then, Shindou was a soccer playing, video-game addicted kleptomaniac thirteen year old boy who was taking the pro exam wasn't the first thing to pop into his mind when he thought of go genius.

Hikaru sighed. "That's what Yongha said too." But Touya didn't quite catch what he had muttered under his breath. "Well anyway, enjoy the game! Try not to get too bored, it shouldn't take too long."

And with that, he sped off past the spectator area, jogging up to his teammates who ruffled his hair and laughed loud enough that Touya could hear them from his spot on the other side of the field. He stood by himself, unsure of what to do. Around him, exuberant parents chattered with each other, and a couple teenage girls were cooing and giggling coyly at the boys on the player side. He saw some of the younger players who were waiting around too, and he figured they were the younger team waiting for their chance to play after the older guys.

One of them had unruly dark hair, and Touya had noticed him first when the boy was saying something about Shindou.

"You see his feint last game against Toshikana, when he did a flick header and assisted Tsukasa?" The boy was saying breathlessly. "Totally bad ass."

The other kid, a brunette with glasses, shook his head. "Yes, but did you see Tachibana's goal? You can't overlook that either. Its a tough competition, but I think Tachibana just has more experience. Shindou's only been on the team for one season. And he's too impulsive, he makes too many dangerous plays and ends up getting carded."

"That's not true!" Another piped in. "So does Taro, but he's by far the best of the defenders."

"What are you talking about, Ryuu is _way _more suited to be the central defender, I don't know what Coach was thinking putting Taro in—

Touya turned away from them as the game began, the midfielders lining up the center line, the referee tossing the coin to the team opposing Haze.

As he listened a bit more, he realized that the way they spoke of soccer sounded a lot like the way Go was discussed. All this talk of plays and strategy, cutting off the offense and making quick defensive moves, he actually found himself able to understand and catch on to the game.

"Sousuke-kun!" A feminine voice called from the stands, and the boy some paces away from him was pulled over to the beautiful woman. "I've been looking for you! Are mom and dad here?"

The boy wedged a finger into his ear unceremoniously. "Naww, they don't think they need to. I'm only JV and stuff." He shrugged it off, but his sister cooed over him anyway.

"Touya-kun?"

Akira whirled around to the achingly familiar voice, surprised when a familiar face flooded his view. "Ogata-sensei?"

At the older man's name, the young brunette seemed keen in interest, abandoning the young boy to walk over to them. "Who's this, Seiji-kun?" She began curiously.

Ogata skewered her a cross look, before sighing and looking away. "This is Touya Akira. He is my sensei's son."

"Sensei?" The comely woman repeated. "Ah! Touya-kun, do you play Go as well?"

When he nodded, she seemed floored.

"Kid's play that old man's game?" She pressed a hand to her mouth in shock. "Goodness!"

From the way the older blond's face soured even more noticeably as the woman talked more, Touya figured whatever relationship they held was strained. And when she laughed at go, it seemed to continue to spiral downwards at an alarming rate. Not that he liked the woman very much. She was too much like every other woman he met, all touchy and up close, calling him adorable and smoothing out his hair. With once glance at Ogata he knew the man was going to dump her in a couple minutes.

"Sis!" The young boy with his teammates called out. "Watch this!"

The woman turned, and so did he and Ogata.

Shindou was sprinting down the field, the dark haired winger running from behind him giving a lead pass to the forward, who barreled past the defenders with impressive footwork, before faking out the central defenseman and heading straight for the goal.

The stands were deafening as everyone started screaming, Shindou passing it off to one of the wings, who set him up for the shot. Akira was sure his ears would burst, the woman beside him near shrieking and the JV team yelling, waiting for Shindou to take the shot. When the boy did, he balanced himself on one arm, and swung his leg and slammed the ball into the corner, toppling into the dirt with the defender on top of him, the crowd roaring.

He had never seen something quite like it.

"Akira-kun,"

He turned from the display of Shindou getting an indefinite amount of hair-ruffling, to see Ogata lighting a cigarette.

"Is that the boy you were talking about?"

"Huh?"

"The one who beat you, who's taking the pro exam this year." The 9-dan elaborated.

Touya nodded slowly. "Yes, that's him."

Ogata looked altogether unsurprised, but their seemed to be a tone of shock in his voice. "I see."

"You seem surprised." Akira noted.

Ogata's eyes did not waver from Shindou, as he jogged back up to the field in chase of the ball, the other team racing to their goal to balance the score. "I hadn't thought that someone of his caliber would be competing in some..." And, with a look of disgust scouring his face. "Juvenile soccer tournament."

Juvenile wouldn't exactly be the word to assimilate to the game in front of them, Shindou rallying past the midfield line in pursuit of the ball, a flurry of quick feet work from one of the wings earning them possession.

"Go isn't all of his life." Said the young Touya, with sad eyes. "In fact, I think he barely even thinks of it."

Ogata frowned. That upstart kid, didn't even play go as religiously as some of his peers who strive for the same goal. Ogata would have been a bit miffed at this, if not for the fact he was the same when he was younger. Hardly ever putting effort into games with his peers, too busy looking forward to the pros, waiting to challenge the best of them. It was the same for Akira, and most probable the same for his father, the great Touya Meijin.

But, what a prodigy was doing here, attracting the attention of idiot pubescent boys like Ume's younger brother, messing around on the field when he should be studying for his exams, the 9-dan hadn't the slightest idea.

"He obviously doesn't think enough about go as he should." Seiji commented offhandedly.

Akira bit his lip, unsure of what to say.

"I'm not very sure," He began quietly. "But what I've noticed of Shindou, is that he doesn't play go for himself. I know he enjoys it on some level, but I feel like something is _making _him."

"What do you mean by that?"

Beside them, Ume and Sousuke seemed unaware of their deep conversation, cheering loudly for Haze as the score evened and the last minute or so of the first half ended. The people around them had begun chattering as the players moved back to the bleachers, Shindou near drowning himself in water, pouring it until his hair was limp and went before shaking it out like a dog, wet strands of blonde sticking to his head. The captain eyed the score warily, tied already in the first half. Usually, with him, Tachibana, and Shindou playing at their top game they'd be able to conquer the enemy team by the first half. But these guys weren't budging. Their defense was near impeccable, and their offense not too shabby either. Aside from Ryuu, the Haze defense wasn't as good as it should be, and the other team was making quick work of that fact.

"Shindou," He called, and the first year trotted over to where he was standing.

"What's up captain?" He tiled his head, running a hand through his wet hair. The air was a bit crisp around them, and he frowned a bit. The last thing he needed was for their star first year to get sick because he was hot and poured cold water over his head in the middle of fall.

"I need to switch your position for the second half..."

"So you think he's doing it for his grandfather?" Ogata asked, intrigued. Neither of the two could make heads of tails of Shindou's motives.

Akira had explained everything about the boy up until this point. Shindou had appeared out of the blue one day, waltzing into the salon without the slightest idea of how to go about playing in a Go salon, much less playing go in general. The young Touya had been kind, and played the boy, thinking he was in for a harsh game of shidou go. Instead, the young boy had ended up playing shidou go with him, playing from a level beyond that of a normal sixth grade boy, holding the stones like a beginner but playing like a pro. Akira had chased him down afterwards, Ichikawa remarking about how the boy had said he'd never played before. Shindou had ended up making some rude remark in his ignorance about dabbling around in the professional world and perhaps winning a title or two, which had infuriated the Go-driven Akira and had ended up with the young prodigy resigning not even twenty hands in.

Afterwards, the two had played in their school's Go club, with Hikaru once again succeeding over Akira's hard work. And the way Touya told the story, Shindou had apparently been so impressed with the other boy's intensity he had decided to find some for himself, and signed up for the pro exams.

Which lead them to the current point in time, with Touya and Shindou both on a winning streak through their exams, leading to their eventual clash with one continuing the perfection, and the other with a blemish on their records. Akira was fairly sure it was going to be him.

"Which is why I need to further my studies of Go." The prodigy began, determined, clenching his fist, as he watched his rival slide tackle the other's team's main offensive player, suddenly switched from forward to midfield anchor.

"When's the game over?" Ogata asked suddenly, drawing the attention of Ume.

"In about ten minutes or so, I believe." She checked her watch, before bending down to her little brother's height, said brother blushing in embarrassment as his friends cackled in laughter. "Then it's your turn, Sousuke-chan!"

"Onee-chan," The boy whined. "Don't do that!"

She rubbed her cheek against his. "Do what?"

"Agh!"

The ten minutes were over fairly quickly, Shindou doing spectacularly as a defensive midfielder, keeping the teams striker from making any further goals, and ended up with Haze winning by one goal, scored by the team's captain. Shindou was in the midst of the cloud of soccer players, congratulating his teammates. The captain grabbed his neck and ruffled his hair as the younger boy guffawed at the action, struggling out of the older boy's grip.

He made it over to Touya eventually hair more askew than usual, the blonde part still drying from its dousing during half time.

"So?" He began cheerily. "What did you think?"

Touya cracked him a smile. "It sure is a lot different then watching a Go match."

"I know right?" The boy hoisted up his duffel bag onto his shoulder, uncapping his water bottle and looking like he was ready to splash it over himself, regardless of the lack of summer heat, replaced by the crisping fall air. "Gosh, the exams are so _quiet_! I don't know how you can stand it sitting in silence for that long."

Touya looked like he was about to chuckle at Shindou's childish antics, before taking note of Ogata's curious gaze.

"Oh, this is Ogata 9-dan, he studies with my father. Ogata-sensei, this is Shindou, he's taking the pro exams with me."

"We've been acquainted before." Glowered the older pro, knowing that Shindou was probably thinking of the time that he had dragged the boy into the Meijin's salon to play his Sensei, the two toned boy ended up running out of there as fast as he could.

Hikaru nodded slowly. "Yeah, we've met."

Touya looked between them confusedly, unaware of the misting current that had electrified between them Ogata narrowing his eyes at the younger boy, and Shindou staring defiantly at the 9-dan.

"What rank are you again?"

"9-dan."

"So you're pretty good, eh?"

"Better then you, cheeky brat."

"We'll see about that, won't we?" There was fire in Shindou's eyes, one he usually didn't get unless at the prospect of playing Touya in a real match. Saved for the touch opponents like Osaka's striker, or Tomoeda's tough defense.

A challenge.

Hikaru's eyes lit, green morphing into the brightest of blues, so intense that it bespectacled his small stature, looking strange in the place of the friendly emeralds that used to be there.

Hikaru turned to Touya. "Hey, can we use your dad's salon?"

"Eh—?" The boy blinked in confusion. "For what?"

"We're playing a match." Hikaru motioned towards him and Ogata, Ume standing curiously in the backdrop with Sousuke too busy drooling with his idol standing right in front of him, Touya as confused as Ogata's subsequent girlfriend. But the two of them, Ogata and Shindou, seemed to be completely alright with this spur-of the moment game, stirred by some undercurrent that Touya didn't quite pick up. "Right now."

What does one to say to that?

"Okay." He answered lamely. "I'm sure Ichikawa wouldn't mind."

* * *

_partiallity. my new word. I love ogata. _


	6. genki tree

_The timeline has successfully confused even me. So here it is._

_Chapter 1: Early spring. Beginning of Hikaru's first year in junior high_

_Chapter 2: June, beginning of Summer._

_Chapter 3: June, Go Tournament_

_Chapter 4: Start of Summer Break_

_Chapter 5: End of Summer Break_

_Chapter 6: Fall, start of Winter_

_(Throughout Chapter 4-6 pro exams/preliminaries)_

_

* * *

_

"It's cold already!" His mother called as he pulled the hooded sweatshirt over his head, and stepped out into the chilly brisk air.

His cleats were on as were his shin guards, and high socks, under the varsity warm ups he had on to keep the bitter cold away. Today was the last game of the season, before soccer ended for the harsher winter that was already overtaking fall at a rapid rate. He waved his mothers concerns off as he ploughed through the neighborhood, and down the street and across a couple turns to get to the school.

The bus would be leaving soon, and he was barely going to make it.

Taro and Ryuu were sprawled out on the sidewalk near the stop, Taro with his long legs stretched out over the curb, geared up in a ski jacket and a comfy pair of sweats, and Ryuu in his perpetual shorts—he wore them regardless of the weather. He waved to them as his skidded to a stop.

"Did I make it?" He asked hurriedly.

"Barely." Ryuu snorted, with a roll of his eyes. Hikaru hardly ever made it with more than twenty seconds to spare. How the boy had such impeccable timing to be _this _close to being late without actually being tardy never ceased to amaze him. Must be one of his skills.

Taro hitched his bag onto one shoulder, already standing up. Hikaru smiled once he realized they must have been waiting for him.

He would miss these guys.

The two boarded the bus with the rest of the rowdy team, who had already began to make the bus shake with their crowing laughter and rough play. Varsity always sat in the back, and he could make out Tsukasa's dark head as he languidly sat in the middle of it, elbows on the back of the seat casually propping him up, looking like the eye of the storm as no one dared to sit next to him, or engage him in their mock fights.

"Err—Hi, Shindou-san!" Said a boy with dark tousled hair as he passed him, and Hikaru stopped, double taking, wondering if he had heard that or imagined it due to its small, meager, volume.

He turned around to see one of the junior varsity boys looking down with an embarrassed visage, and he grinned with a friendly wave and a, "Yo!" before carrying on.

The little wide-eyed first years were in the front, and Hikaru supposed he really shouldn't be calling them little. After all, he was a first year too. But making varsity and hanging out with the older kids really made him _feel _like older, and more mature. Maybe he was, Hikaru mused, as he slid into the seat next to Tsukasa, the captain looking up, as if surprised (he seemed marginally less surprised when Taro hopped over the seat in front of them to swing his legs over the back of the bench and face them, and when Ryuu took the open seat next to Taro and turned around to talk to Hikaru) and Hikaru wondered if his friends and their attitudes had rubbed off on him.

While Ryuu and Taro were cool, and occasionally a bit cocky and always up for fun, the two could be dead serious, and hardly ever did stupid things like Hikaru used to do.

And Tsukasa, well, the reserved captain inspired him with his seriousness, that sort of determined flame that Touya had as well.

Touya seemed to change him the most. Hikaru had always enjoyed soccer, but now he realized it was nothing more then a hobby he excelled at. Once, he had wanted to become a professional soccer payer, tour the globe, get girls, and have thousands of roaring fans who would do anything for him. He realized now that the lifestyle was too petty for him, once he had been exposed to the serious world of Go, which could immerse one completely.

His phone rang in his pocket, and he reluctantly picked it up, thinking it was his mother.

"Yeah?"

"Hikaru-kun? It's Akari!"

"Akari?" He echoed, and suddenly wanted to slap himself for it. Taro and Ryuu zoned in on him quickly, dropping whatever conversation they were having with the captain to gawk openly at him, before making kissy noises and horrid reenactments of Shakespearean love stories.

He clawed at them, but the defensemen ducked out of his range.

"Yes! And I was wondering—well, uh, what are you doing next Saturday?"

Hikaru paused at the question. Sadly, too dense to realize what the implications of a pubescent girl asking him for his plans on a certain day would come to mean.

"I'm not very sure." He began finally, sealing his fate. "Probably nothing, why?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor!"

"Oh?"

"Well…I was wondering if you'd like to…well, do you like plays?"

Hikaru suddenly realized with sickly panic where this was going. "Uhm—Akari…I don't think—

"Please, Hikaru!" Ah, the puppy eyes, he knew she had them on. Big and brown and wide, looking so unhappy but hopeful at the same time. She knew he'd fall for it. "Katsu was supposed to come watch me in the play but he—" She ended with a great sniff as she cut off, and he suddenly felt a wretch in his gut.

"Akari," He began slowly, with a sigh. "Of course…I'll come with you! Just uh—how long is it?"

At this, Ryuu snorted and Taro guffawed, Tsukasa watching him with more then slight amusement.

The captain turned to the silver haired boy next to him, as he leaned against the window and passing scenery. "Shindou's girlfriend's got him whipped."

"I can hear you!" He spat at them, before continuing his original train of thought. "I mean, if you want me to, I'll watch you in the play, you don't even have to ask!" Lie, lie, lie. "But I mean, I might have a match that day."

"Please…" She whimpered. Hook, line, and sinker.

"Okay, I will." He wanted to strangle the howling hyenas in front of him, but refrained long enough to say another, "Don't worry…I'll be there." He ended the conversation, trying to fight a blush as Ryuu and Taro howled in laughter.

--

--

Akira placed another stone down, and another, and then another. The stones began to shape into life, white taking on a puissant form as it effectively dominated black, as he recreated the game from months ago. Sweat dripped down from his brow, and he quickly wiped it away, bright eyes wide in shock at the mere inkling this play meant.

Perfection.

How was this possible?

The boy was nothing if not an impossibility. How could someone exist with this level of skill, with hardly any practice for the game, at such a young age? He was missing something. Akira gripped the table, whether in the sheer vertiginous feeling of Shindou's _pressure _building before him, undeniable it its size and wrathful like a vengeful demigod. Where had he learned how to play?

"_Oh, just from books and stuff. I taught myself a little bit, and my grandfather showed me the basics."_

He watched the game form before him as he placed a couple more stones down.

Shindou had been enigmatic as ever, hardly coming to the salon to play him, busy with the end of his soccer season, no doubt. Akira sighed. How could such a genius at Go be so involved in other things? He wanted to believe that Shindou should spend every waking moment playing the game, honing his skills, becoming stronger. But he wasn't. He was out running track and going to school and playing soccer, hardly even making it to the pro exams every week.

Maybe Shindou didn't need the practice, the prodigy mused, as he placed the pincer that had effectively cut off Ogata's forming eye in the center, and leaving black devoid of life. In the upper right corner, Ogata had used a powerful two-step hane, which should have been able to kill off Shindou's group there, but the boy had an uncanny ability to make life in the most awkward of places, this being one of them.

Shindou had a way of easily dominating anyone. He had done it to Akira every time they had played (counting their first encounter, a total of five times, the two at the go salon, in the tournament, and the three they played when Hikaru had come for a game) and had with every opponent of his in the pro exams.

To think, the boy had done the same to Ogata.

The pro had been slammed—maybe a combination of arrogance and under estimating Shindou—and reeled in shock afterwards, his confusion shown in his haphazard play for the upcoming weeks after in is league matches. Shindou had a way of doing that to someone.

He had certainly done it to Akira, many times.

Sadly, Hikaru hadn't stopped by for a game in quite a long time. While the boy was easy going and languid, certainly the kind of character who was complacent to get along with, he wouldn't quite call them friend. Rivals, yes, acquaintances even. Akira felt as if they had skipped the friendship step and tumbled into something deeper. Raw passion, which at times he certainly wondered where intensity thinned and loathing began. For he certainly loathed the boy, as much as he didn't want to. He wasn't supposed to be there, a freak of nature, like a maelstrom on a day with a clear blue sky.

Yet the prodigy was thankful that he was there. The winds picked at him, crushing him at times, but pushed him closer to his goal. The lashing typhoon that signified Shindou, it would destroy the foundations of modern Go, and create something new. Without Hikaru, he wouldn't be at the skill he was now. He wouldn't be pushed to his limits.

The boy had a perfect record in the pro exams, probably would continue too. They would meet one game prior to the last, and then, he would prove just where he measured against the enormous wall before him.

--

--

"Kaga?" Hikaru slid onto the bench next to the shogi player, who had his face in a shounen manga, looking like he was trying to be as surreptitious as possible.

The red head looked up with some amount of un-interest. "Shindou." He greeted with a yawn.

Hikaru studied the field from the view. Kaga had chosen the highest line of benches, seemingly on purpose, away from the crowd of parents that had come to watch the last game of the fall season. As he looked closer, he noticed many more of them were from Kaio then from Haze, seeing as though they were playing the finals at the former's school. With another glance at Kaga, it was easy to tell the third year had no interest in roping himself in with stuck up parents.

"What are you doing here?"

"My sister's boyfriend is on the team, and she made me come along." He motioned to a girl who looked quite similar to him, with her long hair tied up and a smile on her face as she waved over to…Tsukasa?

Hikaru mulled this over with a wry grin, the next time the guy wanted to make a jab at the first year, he'd have his own set of ammunition ready.

"I didn't know you cared much for soccer." He commented lightly. "Actually, I didn't think you cared much for anything besides shogi."

Kaga eyed him over his book with deep eyes, before snapping it shut at the spine, closing his eyes and leaning back against the brisk fall wind. "I could say the same for you?"

"Huh?"

"I didn't think you were good at anything besides Go."

"Hey!—" His first reaction was to retort, but he was lost in the sense of vertigo that there was actually someone who thought of him as Hikaru the go player, and not Hikaru the soccer player, coming from someone who knew both sides of his life. Touya did, he supposed, but the boy only really knew of his soccer life in passing. None of the insei knew much either, prior to the day Nase had picked him up to play go with her and Waya, they hadn't even been aware he had the ability to kick a ball. "I'm good at both." He ended after abruptly cutting himself off, looking miffed.

Kaga shrugged, zipping his windbreaker higher as the wind pulled at his hair.

He watched the boy in front of him with contemplation, wondering what such an enigma was doing here, on this field _(in this world)._

Shindou, since the day he had slapped his gum where the boy was about to play his stone, had struck him…off. Perhaps not because of the two toned hair. Kaga would be lying if he said that walking through a graveyard didn't make the hairs on his neck stand, or that the pressing of otherworldly deities didn't make him break in a cold sweat.

But Shindou, Shindou didn't have any sort of mild effect on him like that. It was more like…he was lost. Maundering about between two plains, eyes flickering like the blue painted sky, before reverting to their strange, grayish green quality. Eyes were the window to the soul, Kaga knew, but Shindou's soul was split.

_How odd,_ the Shogi player mused to himself, watching the boy in front of him with windy hair and cloudy eyes. _What is this presence I feel?_

Like a Genki tree, spreading its millennia year old roots into the soft soil, branches grasping the sky. Old, he was an old soul. An alarmingly sentient, old soul.

_Why has it come back? _

Shindou seemed to take his deep pondering as a lack of rebuke, and grinned triumphantly. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Kaga only shook his head. While the boy was a genius in go, he certainly wasn't in academics. "Grow up." He closed his eyes, and turned away from the boy, leaning back onto the railing of the bleachers.

Shindou sputtered, devoid of a comeback.

The red head opened his eye a crack, to skewer the soccer player with his narrowed gaze. "And bleach your whole head. It looks stupid with just the bangs."

"S—Stupid?!" Hikaru echoed, placing a conscious hand to his bangs. "Yeah? Well you're stupid!"

He hopped off the edge and landed with a dull thud, turning around to stick his tongue out at the older boy just for good measure, before speeding off with a smile.

The match ended with Kaio losing—big surprise there—and Hikaru felt nothing but relief amongst his angst ridden teammates, all depressing over their last season. The spring season didn't start until after the new school year, and the third years would all be graduating into senior high. Hikaru wondered where he'd be then. Surely, he'd still be playing soccer. But what about Go? Would he be a professional? Would he even have time to play soccer?

Hikaru mulled through his strewn thoughts without interpretation.

He wanted to play Go. Deep inside of him, twining around his heart like tight vines, the passion for the game—which had confused even him—that seemed to have been rooted inside of him since before he was born. And his love for soccer, an unconditional feeling that gave him this light, soaring feeling. Running down the field like a bird soaring in the sky.

And the biggest question of all.

_Who am I?_

I am Hikaru Shindou. His mind supplied unhelpfully. Being Hikaru Shindou meant nothing when Hikaru Shindou was only an alias, only a term. What did that name mean? What did it mean to be him?

"Stop looking so bummed!" Taro came up from behind him, swinging a lanky arm around his shoulders.

The older boy was being hypocritical; behind his easy smile was sadness. The wind tugged at both of their jerseys, the sun searing the sky claret red as it set significantly earlier then usual. Winter was coming fast. Barely five and the sun was already on its last embers. Just like the fall season, it was as if it had barely even started, and yet now it was ending. Hikaru wondered what else would end today.

"I'm not bummed." He answered honestly. "Are you?"

Taro shrugged. "I'll miss playing with the guys." He looked wistfully over to where Ryuu had dumped a gracious amount of water onto Tachibana, who squawked and proceeded to chase the other boy around the team with a bottle of his own. The rest of the team howled with laughter when Ryuu successfully dodged Tachibana's attempts to drench him, and the forward redoubled his efforts by snatching Tsukasa's bottle and double wielding. "I'll miss you too, squirt." He ruffled Shindou's hair, the first year cringing in protest.

After a good five seconds of it, he finally wiggled his way out of the third-year's grip and tried to smooth out his mussed hair, which had begun to curl every which way. His eyes softened when he realized this would probably be the last time he'd ever see Taro. "I'll miss you too, Taro-sempai."

The older boy blinked silver hair out of his eyes in shock. "Hey! You actually called me sempai!" He turned to Ryuu and hollered, "Shindou called me Sempai! You hear that? Maybe he'll call you it too! Come here!"

"What am I—a zoo animal?!" The go player guffawed. "Ryuu, don't come over!"

Like perfect reverse psychology, the defenseman jogged over to peer at Hikaru, who flushed and backed away. "I gotta see this for myself." The two of them had been trying to get the boy to be one of those irritating first years that hung off of every word they said, tottering around and calling them 'sempai'. It never happened. But Hikaru figured, since it was their last day as a team, he might as well.

"Fine." He bit out. "Ryuu-sempai."

The older boy gaped. "It happened! It really happened!" He turned around abruptly to streak through the soccer players sitting in a lopsided circle, waiting for the bus. "The sky's falling! Run! Hurry! Shindou's learned manners!"

The boy with two toned hair only rolled his eyes, hoping people assumed the heat on his cheeks was from the frosted wind, and not from embarrassment.

He shot another glance to his team, Taro a smudge of silvery lining against the sun next to him, Ryuu dancing like a dark haired crow in the middle of the team, who had proceeded to throw thrash at the comical defensemen, Tsukasa, quiet and reserved watching from a fair distance away from the circle, seated next to Tachibana, who looked equally subdued.

His phone rang in his pocket.

Yongha was mentioning something about an upcoming go convention he'd be playing at in Japan in the Spring, and suddenly, soccer strayed from his mind.

--

--

"There you are, I was looking everywhere—Hikaru?" Akari paused suddenly, the crowd around them shifting like mist in the early morning.

She flushed brilliantly when she noticed Hikaru, hands in his pockets. He didn't look all that different then usual, jeans ripped at the knees and baggy, tattered ends over his battered kicks. He had on a dress shirt though, pinstripe sky blue and had the sleeves rolled to his elbows, a couple buttons loose to see the white shirt underneath it. Sure, he looked a little more classy than usual—but that was because Akari told him to dress smart, as most of the attending parents wore dresses and suits—but the main thing that stood out was his hair.

"Your hair!" She gaped, heels clicking on the floor as she leaned in for a closer look.

Unlike its prior state, the blonde looked more natural and less neon, almost the color of lemon peels. And the most notable difference being the lack of two toned quality it had once possessed. It was now completely blonde.

Hikaru shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "A friend of mine told me I should just dye all of it. Is it bad?"

She shook her head vehemently, fighting a blush as she picked at the soft pieces. "No, its great! Is it professionally done?" It sure looked the part.

He nodded slowly. "I feel like such a girl." He hung his head. "Getting my hair done."

"Not at all!" Akari protested, flushing. "It looks…" She trailed off pointedly, staring at her silvery heels she was wearing. "Well—anyway, want to see backstage?"

He gave a noncommittal mutter, which could have been considered a yes or a no. But Akari dragged him back anyway. Behind the curtains was a mess of cues and costumes, make up artists quick in their brush strokes and a shelf of wigs lay above the bright lights that surrounded the mirrors. Hikaru was careful not to get lost with the many people that brushed past him in hurried paces, the discreet stage-whisper calls for actors and the long notes from the instruments in the pit.

Akari giggled at the confusion on his face. "Never been backstage?"

He shook his head. "No, never. It's very…

"Chaotic?" She supplied with a flashing grin, as she tipped a wig up from the top of the shelf. It was blonde, with spiral curls that were pinned up in some elegant style. Akari placed it on her head and gave a twirl.

She had on a silvery dress that sparkled with glitter, hugging her torso tight before bursting into a fray of ruffles that were wider than she was, ending abruptly in lace right before her mid-thigh, which accented her long legs. She looked funny with the blonde wig on, as she picked up a tiara from the counter and put it atop her head.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked teasingly, and, mouth dry, he shook his head.

She rolled her eyes, before sauntering further into the mess that was the backstage, pulling down box after box from a tower leaning against the wall until she found what she had been looking for. She made her way back over to him, near tripping on one of the stagehands, before she opened it in front of him.

Inside lay a pair of glittery red shoes.

He rolled his eyes. "You're Dorothy?"

She slapped her face comically. "No, dummy! I'm the Good Witch of the North!"

"You make it sound like I know even a bit of what you're talking about." He retorted wryly, stuffing his hands into his pockets again. Akari closed the box with a huff, muttering about boys and their lack of knowledge.

If possible, the clatter became louder and louder until the noise was near unbearable, Hikaru suddenly aware he was standing point blank in the middle of pure, tangible, chaos. Around him, women screeched and make up artists flurried about and stagehands redoubled their efforts as actors belted out tenor and actresses sang their A, and Hikaru was suddenly aware of the symphony the orchestra was playing to appease the crowd outside of the curtains. Akari seemed to notice it to because her face lost its pallor to nervousness, and she quietly ushered him out through a series of doors that lead to halls with more grappling people. Hikaru wasn't aware that Haze's Drama club was this vast. No wonder there were hardly any people for the go club—they were all here!

The voices of the seemingly hundred people from behind him were muffled almost immediately as Akari closed the door behind them, tiptoeing down the far left aisle, using the dimmed lights to cover the two of them. Hikaru wasn't quite sure what all the sneaking was for, but carried on anyway. She led him to an inconspicuous seat not too far into the middle, away from most of the audience. The thick draped curtains successfully kept out most of the clatter from behind them, and the orchestra's music handled the rest.

"Wait—!" He called to his best friend, who turned around slowly, looking quite different with her bright sunshine curls atop her head. "What's the play even called?"

She rolled her eyes and swiped a program sheet from one of the saved seats in front of him, handing it to the blonde. There was a picture of two girls, one green and dressed in black, and another whispering to her something, a blonde dressed in white.

"Wicked?" He read aloud.

Akari nodded, looking more impatient by the minute. With a double take, she checked behind her. "I've got to get back. Enjoy the show!"

He leafed through the pamphlet with half a mind. It looked fairly long. A part of him was wondering why he even picked up her phone call. Akari had a way of making him do things he didn't want to. Although he supposed if it wasn't for this uncanny tendency of his, he would have never met TsuiTsui, and by default the Haze go club.

His phone buzzed as the curtains opened and people burst into song, and he discreetly checked the message.

From Yongha:

Two numbers.

Hikaru grinned. Wicked indeed…

Akari was introduced rather quickly, looking stunning, if not a bit nervous in the limelight.

In the crowd, Hikaru played a Hane, his favorable odds increasing further when Yongha dropped the fight to play a Hiraki, claiming the upper left of the (imaginary) board. Hikaru closed his eyes as Akari belted out another note, she and another girl singing a duet. He could feel the board, feel the points that had been played even though the game only existed through their minds and a course of numbers in text messages. But clearer then day, Hikaru knew Yongha's next move, and knew where to play immediately. After that, he would sacrifice the center to gain control over the lower right, tying in to his previous play in the upper right, which Yongha had left cold in the middle of the fight, enticing him to battle for the left hand corner instead.

"_Loathing, unadulterated loathing—_

Hikaru ran through various scenarios in his head, each leading to his victory over the Korean pro. The two had been at this for a while. Yongha had a tendency to begin their spurred games at the most odd of times. Usually at innate hours like three in the morning, or one in the afternoon, when Hikaru was still in school. Not like the blonde minded—and excuse not to pay attention in class was always welcomed. And playing Yongha was challenging in its own way. Hikaru had yet to meet someone who fully challenged him, but he still enjoyed watching those around him continue to grow. Yongha was one of them. By the time the Korean was here again in the spring, he'd show Hikaru his full potential.

Touya too. He had grown immensely as well, and Hikaru was eager to play him as well.

Many minutes later; _I resign_

He sat back in the aftermath, replaying the game in his head, feeling more refreshed then usual. He closed his eyes, thinking of Go more deeply. He tried to think of water, immersed water far beneath the surface, and he was faced with the same image he had since the day Akari had fished him out of the pool.

_So I drowned, _He thought to himself with some amount of difficultly. _I was a go player, and I drowned. No… _He corrected himself with furrowed brows. _I was a go _instructor, _and I didn't drown, I killed myself. _

The more he thought about it, the more soundless images flashed through his head. The speckle of falling leaves crossing over his face, bright orange and russet red, scattering to the ground and making a world that matched the sunset stretching above him. There was someone else with him too, he was sure of it. A darker presence…he didn't know what he looked like but he could remember the feeling still, after thousands of years—hatred.

Hikaru opened his eyes suddenly, without really seeing anything. In front of him, Akari was dancing through the stage with a boy and a girl with a pointed black hat, but he did not see them. His vision was filled with go, and his nose the smell of olden wood and dead leaves.

_So there were two go instructors. _He mused to himself. _And I obviously didn't like the other one. But why didn't I?—_

His phone vibrated, and he jolted out of his mess of thoughts.

Yongha: _Another great game as always, Hikaru._

The now full blonde only smiled, pained and faltering at the edges. What would the Korean pro do, if he knew the truth? That Hikaru was going crazy because of go, that memories that weren't _his _and shouldn't be remembered by him were engulfing him every time he thought of go, and that this skill was worth a thousand years of pain and suffering? This arcane sense of complexity overtook him, as he felt as if he would burst.

_I feel like…I'm always playing someone else's game. _He began, unsure how else to explain it.

_What do you mean by that?_

He closed his eyes, and took a breath. _This hand I play with, whenever I play I don't even need to know one thing about go, it comes to me naturally. And I remember things, crazy things. _

He pressed the send button with more then some hesitation, before admitting it was for the best. These emotions that overwhelmed him, the intensity he felt every time he picked p a go stone—and more importantly, the flood of memories that came with it—were detrimental to his mental health. The state of which was obvious now that he was _remembering things he shouldn't. _Perhaps if he admitted himself into a mental hospital they'd know what to do with him—

_I don't understand you, Hikaru. What do you mean 'remember'? Remember what?_

He bit his lip, and exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. _Nothing, nevermind. I'm going crazy, and I think I need to stop playing Go._

Albeit the fact that he had three more games in the pro exams, and even by forfeiting those three matches he'd probably still pass…but he was sure the go association would null them if he asked.

Yongha replied suddenly, not even seconds after Hikaru had messaged him back, angrily retorting; _I don't care whether you think you're going crazy. You have to play Go. You always have to play Go. If you're even thinking of quitting, I'll come back there and make sure you don't. It doesn't matter to me if you're 'remembering' things, just never stop playing go._

Hikaru didn't know whether to smile or laugh. It was just like the Korean pro to only think of go, and disregard anything else Like many people Hikaru had begun to meet in the professional world, the only thing that mattered to them was go ability, not if you smoked excessively or bit the edge of your fan, just if you could play go. (He didn't know of any who did that personally, but Akira had warned him of the strange quirks that people had).

_Alright, _Hikaru grinned then, a sudden feeling of belonging overwhelming him. _I'll be sure to pass the pro exams, and meet you there, in the world of professionals._

_Now that's what I like to hear!_

With an understanding he hadn't possessed before, Hikaru brought his attention back to the stage, where the girl with the that was flying some feet above the stage, and everyone was clapping loudly, as she belted out notes that seemed to ring in the auditorium. Hikaru gaped when he realized she was _green,_ before spotting Akari below her, looking teary eyed as she sang, _"I hope you're happy," _while the other people on stage with pitchforks began to chant, _"Look at her, she's wicked! Get her!"_

And Hikaru became confused once again.

"So how'd you like the play?" Akari asked him hours later, looking beautiful with a shadow of smoky silver above her eyes, lashes long and framing her their brown hue, lips stained pink. She didn't have the wig on anymore, her hair a messy bun above her head, walking with him in her ruffled princess dress.

Hikaru only smiled. "It was very enlightening."

Akari tilted her head, this obviously not being one of the answers she had expected. "Err—what do you mean?"

He turned around, hair shining brightly in the street lamp. Akari was waiting for her parents to come around with the car, and she had asked if Hikaru wanted a ride. The boy had shook his head, saying he'd rather have the fresh air. "I learned a lot." He shrugged, before picking up his pace with a wave in her direction. "Good job!"

She blushed prettily at that, turning around when she heard a car pull up near her. She hopped in, before calling back to Hikaru, "Are you sure you don't want a ride?"

But he was already gone.

Akira looked up as a storm settled over the sky, making bleak buildings look even more ashen then usual, rain pattering onto the sides of the windows. He figured that Ichikawa wasn't about to let him walk home, and would probably make him ride home with her. She'd leave in another...three hours?

He sighed and leaned back, as he once again created Shindou's game with Ogata.

To see a 9-dan overcome like that, certainly lit a blaze inside his heart. Shindou's power was every growing and immense. The first time they had played, Shindou's weakness was his outdated joseki. But now, it had warped, like a virus, to fit the modern times. It was a frightening idea—a skill that continued to grow at an alarming rate depending on the people Shindou played.

He looked up from his dark musings when he heard splatters that didn't come from behind a window.

In front of him, Hikaru was grinning near brightly, blue eyes alight with the diffused light from the outside world, looking much unlike their usual muddy green quality. He wondered if he had only imagined their prior color, as he was faced with the brilliant summer sky in front of him.

"Touya," Said the boy, with more determination then he had thought Shindou possessed. "Let's play."

Fervently, he nodded.

--

--

It was still raining perpetually since yesterday, and hadn't let up a bit. Hikaru stuffed his umbrella with the others, slipping out of his shoes and into the provided slippers. The go institute seemed quieter then usual, but he figured it was because all of the pro examinees—the loudest, and youngest of the inhabitants of this place—were all studying seriously and hadn't the time to chatter about.

When he got to the lunch room, he was surprised with the amount of people that sat there in deep silence, lost in thought. Nase, who usually made it a point to talk to him at least once, was significantly quiet, with her head bowed over her steaming cup of tea. Fuku looked as relaxed as usual, but was staying quiet as Waya sat next to him with a dark face. Isumi too, looked displeased, far off near the window, staring into the gray abyss.

Hikaru quietly took a seat next to Akira, who was sitting alone today. The dark haired prodigy looked up at his presence, closing his book softly.

"Why's everyone so quiet?" He asked quickly, noting the solemn faces.

Touya blinked, before turning to watch them too. "For many of them, these last three games decide their fate." He worded carefully. Hikaru could be so naive at times.

"Oh." The blonde deflated, before brightening again. "But we don't have to worry?"

The boy shook his head. "We both have perfect records. Regardless of whether we lose all three games, we'll still probably pass." The dark look in his blue eyes said, "But I don't plan to have any losses".

Hikaru thought this over, as he stepped into the game room, where, if possible, the atmosphere was even more dreary than usual. He sidestepped over to the record, seeing who he was going to play today. Ochi Kousuke, he read, with a frown. The little angry boy with glasses?

Soon, everyone had filed into the room, and Hikaru took his seat in front of the sour looking boy.

He looked determined, more so then anyone else in the room, and Hikaru was taken aback by the fire and hatred for him inside those eyes. Akira walked past them swiftly, and Ochi's gaze travelled with the other boy. Hikaru, if anything more confused than usual, returned his gaze from the walking prodigy to the boy in front of him, who became more furious. Hikaru blinked, almost cowed by the loathing. With shaky hands, he grabbed a handful of white stones, and the silent boy grabbed two black ones, clenching them in his hand.

He had black, and Ochi had white.

_//I never lose with black//_

Hikaru frowned. Where had that come from?

He waited until the signal from the instructor, before beginning by claiming the upper left hoshi. Ochi did the same to the lower right. Soon, the four corners were covered and the two had begun to battle for the left corner of the board. Hikaru played his moves in quick succession, Ochi grappling to keep up with a deeply marred scowl. Hikaru's own frown deepened, as he tried to think about the game more deeply than just feeling the flow of the stones.

Sure, he knew playing the 3-5 was an excellent move, but why was it a good move? Aside from his instincts, he knew nothing of where to place the stones. Ochi made a low approach to the stone, and the two descended into something akin to speed go, as the path became clearer for Hikaru to see and he became impatient to get there.

By the time lunch break was called Ochi looked even more furious, panting heavily. He had lost the entire corner he'd been fighting for, but there was still the rest of the board to play, and he still controlled the larger portion of the center.

The young boy bolted out the moment the instructor had called for lunch, leaving Hikaru to stare amusedly at the board. Ochi was good, surely. Nowhere near as good as Touya, but on a level higher then most of he insei here.

He met up with said prodigy as they headed into the lunch room.

Usually when Touya was engrossed in a book he was reading, Hikaru would slide in next to Waya and have a couple laughs with him and Nase and Isumi. But today, the three of them looked disheartened and tense, and he decided it would be better to leave them be. He hadn't realized what trying times the end of the exams would be, seeing as though he was coming out way above the curve. He studied his hands, remembering what Yongha had said to him, which had encouraged him to take the pro exams. That he was a gift to the go world.

He looked at the sullen faces of those around him.

Was he really?

"Hey Touya," He began, and the other boy looked up from his book to listen intently. "Do you think I should play Go?"

The dark-haired genius wanted to point out that he would be a biased individual to ask as he reeled for a moment, before asking slowly. "Why? Do you think you shouldn't?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't think it's very fair, I guess. Everyone here works so _hard _and I—" _I'm playing off of borrowed skill _"Don't have any of their intensity." He ended with a gulp, studying his hands.

"But you're working for something right now, aren't you?" The boy closed his eyes, almost irritatedly. Sometimes, Shindou could be so dense, and tactless. Shindou was confused, faced with so many people carrying the fire he didn't possess, those who were jealous of Hikaru's careless skill. But they had what he didn't; what he wanted.

"Eh?"

"You want intensity, right? Determination?" Touya leaned in closer, until Hikaru could hardly see anything else besides the brilliant blue of his eyes, so bright everything else around them dimmed. "The same determination _I _have, and everyone else in this room does?"

"Yeah." He nodded slowly. "That's what I want."

Touya sat back, almost triumphantly. "Well then you are working hard for something, even if it may not be what everyone else is working for."

Hikaru and he sat in silence, as the sunshine haired blonde contemplated these words that held a more profound meaning. He supposed Touya was right.

"You know, my father…when I was younger," Dark hair covered his eyes for a moment, until he brushed it back with his hand. Hikaru turned in rapt attention; Touya hardly every spoke first, especially when speaking about himself. "He told me I had two abilities in my favor. Determination, and a love for the game."

He looked at Hikaru with a certain quiet about him. "Those are the two things you lack. But you have what I lack, which is pure talent." He smiled thinly, almost enviously.

The blonde said nothing in return for many moments, leaning against the windowsill the two were seated upon until he felt the cool glass on his back, rain splattering with a dull pitter-patter.

"What's it like to want something more then anything else in the world?" He asked suddenly but with and innocent, honest quality, knowing Touya would have an answer.

In their silence that matched the rest of the room, Akira had split the spine of his book, reading the words lightly without truly sinking their meaning. He paused with a start at Shindou's words. "What's it like to be good at something without even trying?" He rebuked softly.

"Lunch break is over!"

Hikaru turned to look at his lunch, which remained untouched, he supposed he wasn't all that hungry anyway.

The two made their way back into the game room wordlessly, the contrary young boy he was playing brushing past him with a quick pace into the room, but Hikaru didn't bother to mind. He was more concerned over bigger, more important things then some little kid's childish immaturity. Yongha's words had soothed him, but he knew that mostly the older pro had said them because—above all else—he didn't want Hikaru to ever stop playing Go. And maybe he was right, maybe his go was a gift for others to learn from, to push people like Akira to greater heights then they could reach on their own. And maybe it was as much of a curse, destroying the hopes and dreams of these examinees.

His resolution wavered a bit, before he clenched his fist and looked forward, to where Ochi sat in front of the Goban.

His interest in go—at first—had nothing to do with who he was now, but who he _had _been. He was certain that now, the passion for the game had rooted inside of him, nothing but a stem for now, but soon it would grow. Like Touya's, and Ogata's, and Yongha's, and everyone in this room.

* * *

_Should Hikaru keep his hair dyed? And should he continue to play soccer? I figure he's getting to the point where he's justly confused over whether to continue to play or not. Also, I don't know if Ochi took the pro exams with Akira, but he totally did in my head, so he totally did in this story. _

_Thoughts? _


End file.
